(æ)lohim
by Kim Chang-Ra
Summary: Three minutes, twenty-two seconds. That's how long it takes for a simple test run at the Leo Corporation to go horribly wrong. In the midst of the chaos, a programmer has disappeared, and his creation is the only witness. As Kōtsu Masumi and her friends investigate, however, they soon discover more sinister forces at play—and its source could very well be among their inner circle.
1. I

_And the Lord God said, 'Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever.'_

– The Book of Genesis; Chapter 3, Verse 22, KJV

* * *

I

 _Maiami City_

 _Leo Corporation Sublevel Three_

 _Research & Development_

 _15:20_

Up until recently, it had been the mark of a tourist to not recognize the crystalline structure that dominated this part of Japan's coastline. Twice as tall as any other building in the region, it stood among its brethren of metal and glass like some ancient sentinel, protecting the city it was part of. Or perhaps, some might now say, the city that was part of _it_ —for the Leo Duel School, along with the influence it wielded, was practically the lifeblood of Maiami City and the surrounding area. Some even said that the world as it was today owe itself to the existence of LDS and the conglomerate that owned it—given recent events, such a statement might not have been so far from the truth.

This conglomerate was just as ubiquitous as the school, but the bulk of its operations were nowhere to be seen—at least, not above ground. Most of the Leo Corporation's less public dealings were concentrated beneath the massive skyscraper and the surrounding area so as not to attract any more attention than they were already receiving. It was not all out of necessity—the top brass of the corporation had been very tight-lipped about the goings-on under their school even before all the city tabloids started snooping around a few weeks ago following a mysterious police investigation that had supposedly been requested by the acting chief executive herself. Nothing had come of it—but that had not stopped the odd adventurous journalist from aspiring to make a quick profit with a juicy story.

The latest of these had pretended to masquerade as an employee of the Leo Corporation barely a week ago—which meant it had been the topic of conversation ever since. Much laughter was to be had in the break room of how the unfortunate reporter's ruse had been discovered, and how he had been unceremoniously ejected from the premises.

" … I honestly thought Shirai was going to feed him to his Duel Monsters, Sakamura- _kun_ ," said one Leo Corporation technician to the other as they walked through the corridors of their company. "I've messed up on my work a dozen times since I first started here a few years ago—and let me tell you, I have _never_ seen him so angry."

"Yeah." The second technician, Sakamura, was younger than his companion, though no less seasoned to the daily life of working inside this company. "How many _yen_ do you want to wager that the board of directors is talking about that reporter right now, Tanaka- _sensei_?"

The older of the pair ignored the teasing honorific—they'd spent enough time working on their own project together that he didn't mind. "Not as much as I'd wager that the next reporter who gets caught in here without their say-so gets more than just a boot from the building and enough NDAs that he won't be able to speak our name for the rest of his life," he said. "I can't say I blame them—I catch one in here, I'm not going to get in Shirai's way next time."

Tanaka and Sakamura shared a hearty laugh as they entered the main complex of the Leo Corporation's R&D facility: a massive chamber that might have comfortably fit an entire football pitch if it wasn't currently so crowded and cluttered. A thousand different projects—some related to Dueling, others focused on other areas of research, and all in various stages of completion, littered the concrete floor in sectioned-off grids precisely ten meters square. Three different walls of the entire room were lined with see-through cubicles and offices, built into special alcoves so as to maximize floor space—the former stacked three high on opposite walls; the latter stacked two high on either side of the door the two technicians had just walked through.

The only wall that wasn't devoted to office space was lined with a half-dozen doors, spaced roughly a hundred feet apart. These led to several testing arenas, each reaching the size of an average tennis court. Larger projects were not tested here, but were otherwise taken to a secluded proving grounds away from the downtown area—where, exactly, was a secret; rumor had it that everyone who was taken there arrived and left in a bus with blackened windows. Even before last month's incursion—and the sudden influx in the scrutiny of independent journalists—the Leo Corporation _still_ took secrecy very seriously.

The technicians' attention was distracted at that moment by a small crowd that had gathered near one of those testing bays. They chattered indistinctly among themselves while occasionally gesturing towards the door, which—according to the red light above it—was currently in use. As the two technicians drew closer, though, they could hear snippets of the conversation amidst the hustle and bustle of R&D—along with what sounded like an intermittent thumping noise from whatever was on the other side of that door.

"How long has J.D. been in there?" said one of the observers, an excited-looking woman of about twenty who looked the very definition of 'intern'.

"Going on two and a half hours," replied her older companion. "And that's assuming he took his break; I'm not sure he's left that room all day." His gaze traveled to the closed door as another thump made itself heard. "Lately, I'm beginning to wonder if the man even _sleeps_."

Tanaka and Sakamura exchanged knowing looks. J.D. Crowley, while far from being the newest addition to R&D, had attracted no small amount of envy from a few of the more seasoned employees of the division. For once, the fact that he was _gaijin_ —foreign—had little to do with this sentiment; recently, Crowley had volunteered to work on a project that had been started some months ago by Akaba Reiji—the famous chief executive of the Leo Corporation himself, whose work was therefore the gold standard to everyone who worked here. Being selected to take part in ensuring that one of his pet projects saw the metaphorical light of day—in this case, worldwide mass-production—was considered a huge honor.

"I don't know why J.D. would want to stress-test now, though," remarked Sakamura, making the twenty-something intern jump a good meter in the air at the unexpected voice. "We've already started shipping units—in fact, weren't the first hundred loaded up at the city docks just yesterday?"

"He might just be making a to-patch list," remarked the intern's friend. "I heard him say before he went back in that he wanted 'to be absolutely sure before notifying quality control of any defects or bugs.' Certainly takes pride in his work, he does," he added, to nods all around.

They lingered around a few minutes longer before Tanaka glanced at his watch; it was 3:21 P.M. "Come on," he said to Sakamura. "We'd better get back to work before Shirai thinks we're with the tabloids, too."

This earned a grimace and a furtive glance backwards towards the office-lined wall. The space in the center was wider than the offices that surrounded it, and even though they could not see through the windows at this angle, they did not doubt that the unseen Shirai was watching over the entire space like a hawk.

"Good point," agreed Sakamura, and they headed back to their assigned grid space, where rested the project they'd been working on—though not without stealing a glance every so often towards the space where Crowley was continuing his work.

"The programming should have had time to calibrate while we were on break," said Tanaka, examining a computer screen that had been set up in the workspace, before finally crossing over to a tablet-like device that was lying on a workbench. "We'll set up for a sixty-second test. If J.D.'s in there right now, odds are he's in the middle of a Duel. If that's true, this should be able to pick up traces of any Summoning energy from that Duel—which should bring us one step closer to closing any gaps in LDS' sensor net. A few dozen more of these"—he gestured to the tablet—"and I'd wager the next invading force won't even be able to play a Level 1 anywhere in the prefecture without us knowing about it. I wouldn't be surprised if the LDS staff integrated this technology into their Duel Disks by this time next year."

"Let's hope we won't need it by then—I'd be happy if the war this was made for ended before we needed to use it," Sakamura said under his breath. He bit his lip, before speaking a little more loudly to his coworker. "Tanaka—do you think the Lancers are enough?"

Tanaka hesitated—he didn't need to register the lack of an honorific in the query to know that Sakamura was clearly anxious. "What do you mean?" he asked.

It was Sakamura's turn to pause. "Well … lately the wife's been worried. We've got that kid on the way, you know, so she's already anxious as all hell. Most of that's part and parcel with being pregnant, I know—hormones, right?—but last night she asked me a question: 'How do we know a bunch of kids can stop a war?'"

Tanaka was very quiet as he listened to his coworker's tale. "It kept me up all last night," Sakamura confessed. "I didn't know how to answer her. All I could do was really hold her until she went to sleep … " He sighed. "What do you think? I know what you're going to tell me—those kids proved themselves in the Maiami Championship, and they're being led by Reiji himself. But they're still kids—he's only sixteen. Is that really enough against an army from another dimension—an army whose strength we can only guess at?"

The other technician was silent for a long time—evidently he, too, was having some trouble finding a good answer to his query. "It isn't just Reiji who put the Lancers together," was his eventual reply. "Chairwoman Akaba worked with him, too. Himika's just as sharp as her son—if not more so. If anyone in this city knows how to defeat this threat for good, she does."

Sakamura, however, was undeterred. "But what if these invaders attack again, when the Lancers aren't here?" he asked. "What will we do then?"

Tanaka looked grim. "For a start," he said, "we hope that our work does what it was meant to do." He nodded downwards towards the tablet computer on the desk they shared. "If it doesn't, then we work harder until we know that it does."

That was enough for Sakamura to know the time for questions and idle chat was over. "Okay," he said, fully sobered up—now strictly business as he played an _allegretto_ on the keyboard. "Any energy in particular we should be looking for?"

Tanaka shook his head. "Doesn't matter right now. We've still got to program parameters for Fusion, Synchro, and Xyz into the software for these things. If this test run works out, _then_ we'll head over to Nakajima; his department can give us the parameters we need for us to start conducting more tests—tests that should hopefully give us more accurate readings."

"Got it." Sakamura tapped a few final keys, humming to himself as he studied the readouts on the screen. "Okay. Sixty-second test of Project #1523147—commencing in five … four … three … two … one."

He pressed the ENTER key; at once, the screen of the tablet in front of Tanaka lit up. A simple graph appeared on the screen, along with a single, slightly pulsing line. In the exact center of that graph, a keen eye would have seen that line spiking every few seconds.

"I think it's working," commented Tanaka as he studied the readout, tapping the screen here and there. "I'm calling up the radial imaging function … overlaying with map topography, and … Yep, just as I thought," he nodded, beckoning Sakamura to his side. "The scanner's picking up every Summon within a block of LDS—just like I programmed it to," he added with a faint note of pride. "It can't yet tell what kind of Summons they are—once we get the specifications from Nakajima, we'll be able to see more than one fluctuation in this graph here—but none of them are especially high-powered, either, else we'd be seeing bigger spikes. So every pulse we're seeing right now is a low-level, locally produced Summon of an Extra Deck Duel Monster."

Sakamura grinned. "Then we're in business, Tanaka- _sensei_?"

"Looks that way," Tanaka replied, pulling his coworker into a one-armed hug. "Four hundred hours we've logged between the both of us on this! When Nakajima sees the progress we've made, he's going to do backflips, I tell you!"

"Then what are we waiting for?" asked Sakamura. "Let's go see him now—it's only twenty-two minutes past three! If we do, we could probably start work on programming everything he gives us before we clock out for the day."

"Good idea," Tanaka said with an approving nod as he turned back to the computer. "Let's just shut this down here first, and—"

He broke off suddenly, and it was immediately apparent to Sakamura what had distracted him: the tablet on their desk was beginning to beep rapidly. That wasn't all, either; both technicians knew as they stared at the screen—and the rapidly growing spike that had appeared in the center.

Tanaka and Sakamura both turned towards one another at the same time—each of their faces mirroring the other's growing horror. "You don't think—!" Sakamura could only say.

Tanaka was already upon the device like a cat on its favorite toy. "I'm localizing the energy spike now," he said hurriedly. "Should be another few seconds before I can—"

But suddenly there was a deafening BANG that rendered the device quite unnecessary; indeed, it was so loud that half of R&D had gone quiet straightaway. Everyone's attention—including that of Tanaka and Sakamura—was now fixed like a laser on the only possible place that that sound could have come from.

 _Testing bay three_.

Tanaka's face was white as a sheet. "Get Shirai- _kachō_ ," he muttered to Sakamura. " _Now_."

* * *

 _Thirty seconds earlier_

On the other side of the two-foot thick partition that separated testing bay three from the rest of R&D—twelve inches of solid steel, and another twelve inches' worth of enough sensors to hear the heartbeat of a housefly—a Duel was indeed in progress.

One of the combatants—sturdy, lean, and already beginning to bald despite being in his twenties—wiped his heavily perspiring brow as he took a deep breath. True to his coworkers' mumblings, J.D. Crowley had been in here for a very long while; in fact, he had yet to take his break, even though he ought to have half an hour ago. So absorbed was he in his work that he'd barely come back from his lunch break three hours ago before diving right back into the Duel he'd interrupted—and even before that, he'd been in and out only long enough to take his morning break.

Roughly a dozen Duels later, here he was, staring down his opponent with a trio of monsters, each placed on the maroon chevron that lined his gunmetal-gray Duel Disk. Hard-light projectors inside the testing bay replicated their representations onto the field of the Duel—in the center: a ten-foot-tall flaming knight in bright white-and-red armor (Level 8: _ATK 2800_ /DEF 2200); to its right, a smaller warrior clad in crimson armor (Level 4: ATK _1900_ /DEF 900), and on its left fluttered a butterfly-like creature whose wings were made of fire (Level 4: ATK _1500_ /DEF 1500).

Crowley took a moment to wipe his spiky brown hair free of sweat. Then: " _Evoltector Chevalier_! _Flaming-Sprite Butterfly – Wilps_!" he cried. "Attack directly!" The two flanking monsters did just, rushing straight for his opponent in twin streaks of flame. Once—twice—they connected in quick succession, causing a pair of concussive blasts to echo throughout the chamber, and the opponent's LP to drop to 600.

The researcher, satisfied, took his time to examine the state of the Duel thus far. He still had every last one of his Life Points, and a strong field to boot—while his opponent had no field whatsoever, and only a sliver of LP remaining. If his strongest monster had not already attacked this turn, this Duel would have been won by now.

But still, Crowley was not satisfied. "Turn end," he said, and the opponent promptly began his turn, drawing a card.

Seconds later, his opponent began to speak in a flat, emotionless voice: "I place—"

"Not so fast!" yelled Crowley—he'd played more than enough Duels with this opponent not to know what he was planning on doing next. " _Phoenix Gearfried's_ effect! If my opponent activates a Spell Card, I can target a Dual monster in my Graveyard and Special Summon it! I Special Summon _Hell Kaiser Dragon_!"

 _Gearfried_ raised its enormous blade and whirled it this way and that, creating a dark portal in midair. Seconds later, a winged, serpentine shape shot out from that portal unfolded onto the Field, letting loose an intimidating growl at his opponent as it settled to one side of his _Chevalier_ (Level 6: _ATK 2400_ /DEF 1500).

 **"Energy output nominal,"** said his opponent all of a sudden. **"Input projection parameters. Scale 1,** ** _Qliphort Assembler_** **; Scale 9,** ** _Qliphort Tool_** **."**

Crowley's smile vanished as suddenly as a blown bulb. _What?!_ He checked his Duel Disk, then the various computer screens behind him—but a single second's glance at the telemetry on each one told him the same thing.

 _No—not now!_ he thought frantically. _I can't let this Summoning take place!_ "Emergency shutdown!" he yelled. "Authorization: Crowley-zeta-one-six!"

The voice recognition software beeped in recognition—but his opponent had been quicker by far. Two mechanical shapes, either side of him, rose into the air, hovering near the roof of the testing bay:

 **"Parameters accepted. Initiate resident program:** ** _Pendulum Summon_** **."**

Crowley whirled around, feeling terror course through his veins—he knew he only had _seconds_. "No, wait!" he cried out, to no avail. " _Wait—!_ "

* * *

Tanaka had made it to the door of testing bay three just in time to hear a young man's voice. "Help me!" J.D. was barely heard to hear—a remarkable achievement, considering the thickness of the walls and the growing clamor outside the door. " _Someone get me out of here!_ "

BANG. Everyone jumped as another deafening noise rattled the entire wall.

"What the _devil_ is going on here?" Shirai—the bald, mustachioed lead programmer—had appeared out of nowhere, Sakamura at his side. Both men looked as though they'd run a race. Shirai in particular was breathing especially heavily; it was a sign of the tenseness of the situation that no one jumped at the sound of his gruff voice.

"J.D.'s in the testing chamber," Tanaka quickly said, gesticulating at the tablet in his hand. "We—Sakamura and I—just picked up a _massive_ energy spike in there. If we're reading it right, it's trending exponentially."

Shirai bit his lip as yet another loud BANG shook the wall. "Get him out of there," he said to nobody in particular, as Crowley's pleas for help continued. "Now!"

Sakamura had produced his key card before anyone else had thought to do so. He sprang for the door, slid his card through the lock—but nothing happened.

He tried again—achieving nothing except another loud BANG. Several of the more fearful personnel were beginning to back away, as though wary the entire wall would collapse.

"Can anyone hear me?!" Crowley sounded as though he feared for his life. "Someone— _get me out of here now!_ "

"Door's shut tight!" Sakamura cried, after a third failed attempt. "My key card isn't working!"

Shirai shunted him aside, producing his own card and slicing it through the lock—but he, too, was unsuccessful. "Crowley, can you hear me?" he called out, rapping his fist on the door. "J.D., open up!"

For a moment, all was quiet inside R&D. Then, a second noise suddenly split the silence: a grotesque sizzling noise that sounded uncannily like raw flesh on hot metal.

Moments later, everyone present gasped as a long, loud, piercing _scream_ was heard from inside the chamber. Even Shirai stepped back from the door, clearly terrified, his impressive mustache slicked flat with his own sweat.

"Crowley!" he bellowed one last time before whipping out his radio. "Security to testing bay three—immediately!"

The sizzling noise was getting louder. "HELP ME!" Crowley was barely heard to say. "Oh, God, _HELP ME!_ "

"We need security down here!" Shirai roared into his radio. "Now, damn it, NOW—!"

And then, there was a third noise, one that would chill the bones of Sakamura and Tanaka for years to come: a roaring, earsplitting shriek—heavily distorted, somewhere between mechanical and organic … like a half-dozen buzz saws that had been fused with a fully grown jaguar.

Then— _CRASH_.

Every single person in R&D ran for it, ducking for the nearest cover they could find as the entire wall _shook_ to its foundations—Shirai in the lead, still barking into his radio for as much security as could be mustered. It sounded to Tanaka and Sakamura as though whatever was in there was tearing the entire chamber apart—assuming it hadn't been already. The flesh-on-burning metal noise was far too loud—there was no chance of hearing J.D. over the din now.

A second bestial bellow tore through the air—and then, quite suddenly, it had disappeared as quickly as it had come, along with the unknown sizzling sound. Silence settled over the facility—and then every single light in the building went dark. Screens flickered and died, LED fixtures in the ceiling shut down; within a split second, the entire large chamber had been plunged into darkness.

In any other situation, pandemonium would have set in straightaway—but no one screamed, shouted, or even burst into tears. Silence reigned, broken only by the sound of terrified, half-stifled whispers. As Tanaka thumped his chest in an attempt to calm his racing heart, he thought he might know why: everyone was keeping quiet so they could try to listen for Crowley; they were anxious to find out if he'd survived whatever had happened in there.

But after a full minute of perfect silence and near-perfect blackness, there was neither sign nor sound of the man—and Sakamura could practically hear everyone's heart sinking in their breast as the truth sank in.

"Oh, my God … " he heard the faint voice of the intern whisper from beside him. She sounded close to a nervous breakdown, and Sakamura couldn't blame her.

Tanaka, meanwhile barely saw the faint form of Shirai stumble out from behind a particularly bulky piece of machinery. Even in the inky darkness, the lead programmer appeared ghostly pale, and his hands were trembling so badly it looked as though they were about to fall off. The radio had long since fallen from his grip, it lay at his feet, forgotten.

"C-contact Nakajima," Shirai could only stammer. His next words, Sakamura later admitted, would prove to be the understatement of the year. "We … we have a situation … "

* * *

 **A/N: Call this a teaser—for now.** ** _Rain's Hand_** **is still a priority for me—and work on that is still continuing; I've just had to deal with burnout and carpal tunnel of late—but I thought I'd release a little something in the meantime to arouse your curiosity.**

 **I didn't have room to list it in the synopsis, but this story, while a direct sequel to _(æ)mæth_ , is also an _indirect_ sequel to my three-shot _Q, Q, Q!_ Prior reading of it is recommended, though ultimately not required.**

 **As before—for purposes of faithfulness to the source material—any canon cards, archetypes, and characters in this story will be referred to in their original Japanese translation (or, barring that, as close as the wiki will allow me). Additionally, it is rated T for language and thematic violence, and any fic-exclusive cards depicted here will be listed at the end of the story.**

 _ **Yu-Gi-Oh!**_ **and** _ **Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V**_ **are © 1996 and © 2014 by Kazuki Takahashi and the Konami Corporation; all original characters and content herein are mine.**

 **Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoy! – K**


	2. II

II

Although no one inside the Leo Corporation's R&D division was aware of it at the time, the events that had taken place inside testing bay three were to have wider-reaching consequences than any of them would have suspected.

The power outage that had disabled the entire complex rocketed upward in an instant—and the entirety of the Leo Duel School, one floor after the other, lost power in the blink of an eye. Classrooms, computer labs, and Dueling arenas alike were plunged into darkness, to the consternation of its many students, teachers, and staff.

At the top floor of the building—inside a stately office with enough square footage to rival a large house—the light emanating from a single lamp flickered and died upon the single desk that furnished that office. Then, almost imperceptibly, the fluorescent illumination set into the ceiling faded as well. It was only imperceptible because one entire wall of that office was constructed of nothing but tempered glass and steel frames; there was more than enough natural light at this time of day, therefore, that a power outage here could easily have gone unnoticed.

The single occupant of the office, however, was perceptive enough to notice the lights in her office go out—and more to the point, the subtle hum of power that flowed into this room to disappear as well. Immediately, she sensed something was amiss, though _why_ and _how_ remained a mystery for the time being.

Regardless, a simple call would provide an explanation for what happened here, she decided. So she took out her mobile—the telephone she kept on her desk would be of little use here; the power loss would have disrupted the land lines—and dialed in a number: a secure line that only one person had access to at any given time.

That time, unfortunately, was not today, as she discovered roughly fifteen seconds and a burst of static later; the call refused to connect. _So even the cell network is down as well_ , she thought, turning round in her chair to gaze out at Maiami City, staring out at the skyline for some time. She couldn't see it, but she had a suspicion that …

Abruptly, she turned round to face her desk, taking out her tablet computer as she did so. Even this, however, proved to be a fruitless venture; a quick look at the icons at the top of the screen told her everything she needed to know. _Not even a Wi-Fi connection_ , she mused. _So I can't e-mail or message him, either_ —

Her eyes flicked to the lamp just then—she'd seen the faintest burst of illumination from the LED bulb inside. Then … Yes, she knew as she watched the light flicker on for good; the power loss had only been temporary.

That was just as well, she thought as she watched the lights in her office come on, one after another. The lack of functioning elevators meant that it would have taken a very long time for her to come down all this way and find out how this had happened—and she had no intention of walking down a hundred flights of stairs just to answer a single question; it was hardly befitting for a woman of her standing.

Quickly, she looked at her mobile, noticing the signal strength had returned to its usual four bars; a second look at her computer showed much the same. Not deigning to waste any time, therefore, she tried a second time to connect the call she'd attempted to place mere minutes ago.

Almost instantly, her efforts were more successful. "This is Nakajima," said a deep male voice on the other side of the line.

"Report." The single word was a sharp bark—a tone that signified she was in no mood for nonsense or delays, only answers.

"I've had word of an incident in R&D," Nakajima said. "Nothing to confirm or deny at this time; I'm on my way to check now."

"Send word when you can." And she hung up. There was no need to ask for elaboration; Nakajima was a trusted sort—dutiful enough to know that sometimes, the urgency of the situation cared little for details, minutiae, or overly long explanations. Those could always come later.

Until then, though, all she could do was wait; considering where Nakajima was going, it would be some time before he would be able to arrive with the news of whatever had happened inside Research and Development.

A sudden thought occurred to her. _Maybe_ , she mused, as she picked up her mobile once more—this time, keying in a different number entirely— _maybe it would do to have some_ outside help _in this situation …_

* * *

 _3:19 P.M._

 _Six minutes earlier_

"Settle down, everyone—please settle down! We'll be starting in just a little bit."

At the teachers' instruction, several chaperones began the task of hushing the ninety or so awed students that had filed into the planetarium for today's field trip, gawking at the immense size of the dome over their heads. The oldest of them didn't look more than eight—too young to be considered for entry into a Duel School just yet.

As he gazed inside the room from his vantage point in an adjacent doorway, Rokkaku Fuyu couldn't resist smiling at the kids' reactions: the notion that such a building always appeared to be _bigger_ on the inside than it actually was. It was more than simply a way of finding out who'd been inside a planetarium before and who hadn't—in a way, it was also a way to tell which of these kids was interested in the skies that lay beyond the Earth from those whose interest hadn't yet been piqued. That mixture of curiosity and wonder was an emotion to treasure, Fuyu believed—indeed, only three people in his life had had the honor of experiencing more of that particular desire than he.

It was a bittersweet feeling, however; less than a month ago, that _three_ had been whittled down to _two—_ through a series of unfortunate events that Fuyu had been most unfortunate to not be a part of. The Xyz Duelist had fallen into something of a depression ever since finding out that his best friend had been … _claimed_ in the Maiami Championship; Fuyu's body, already pale and skinny to a dangerous degree owing to a prolonged sickness he'd gone through in his youth, became pasty white and bone-thin. After the tournament had been canceled, he'd kept to his room—not even leaving for meals or showers—and had generally neglected himself for the better part of the following week.

It might well have been much longer if not for a chance encounter—and a Duel that would prove to change Fuyu's life forever. His skin was still as pallid as ever—no Duel would change that—but in the weeks since, he'd been starting to leave the planetarium more often, going out for hours at a time, and he'd found that he'd been acting less shy as a result of it. Of course, he had to wear a special suit to make this possible in the first place, otherwise his pale skin would burn within minutes; while sunblock would have been the preferred option, Fuyu detested the smell of it—besides, he thought, he looked and felt cooler inside that suit anyway.

"Okay, everyone," he heard a voice say, and instinctively he jumped; a silver-haired woman in her forties had taken to the floor to speak to the students. "My name is Rokkaku Yuki, and I'm the owner of this planetarium. Thank you all for coming here today; it's a pleasure to see so many of you … "

Fuyu slowly tuned out his mother's voice; he'd heard this preamble a hundred times. She was the face and voice of this planetarium, after all, and the _second_ person that had more of a love for the stars than even he did—the third, of course, being his father, who'd made a living out of being a stargazer before he'd married Yuki and fathered their only child.

"Now," Yuki said to the assembled children, "who here has seen the stars during the night?"

Several hands went up, including Fuyu's—though nobody noticed him standing outside the door. The Xyz user knew why most hands weren't being raised; most of these children lived downtown, where the artificial lighting of Maiami City drowned out any hope of starlight reaching the naked eye.

"Awesome!" Yuki replied with the sort of enthused tone children liked to hear—keeping them on the edge of their seat until the _really_ exciting portion started. "How many of you have ever been camping before during the night?"

All the hands but one lowered. "My family goes to the mountains ev'ry summer," said a boy of about seven, when Yuki called on him.

"Cool!" gushed Yuki. "No, really, it gets _really_ cold up there," she added in a stage whisper, even holding up a palm beside her mouth as if to confide a great secret to the boy. "Make sure to bring a jacket next time." She made an overly exaggerated shiver, and the children giggled.

"Anyway," she went on, "how many stars do you think you saw when you went camping in the mountains?"

Fuyu could almost imagine the boy's brow creasing as he tried to think of an answer. "I 'unno," he eventually shrugged. "Maybe a hundred."

"Wow." Yuki's mouth fell open in a wide, perfectly round O, and some of the kids laughed again at this. "That's a lot of stars!"

Then she smiled. " _But_ … what if I told you that you could see _thousands_ of stars in the sky," she whispered, her eyes wide and voice dripping with wonder, "just with your own two eyes … _right now_?"

There was complete silence from the children. Fuyu knew it well, and smiled—his mother had hooked them in.

"I'm going to _slowly_ turn off the lights here in a little bit," said Yuki, walking backwards towards the edge of the room. "While I'm doing that, I want you to pretend that you're on a camping trip with this boy. The sun is setting, the crickets are chirping, the fire's beginning to burn low—and maybe you're all telling each other scary stories to pass the time," she added, to yet another brief murmur of laughter.

Fuyu grinned in anticipation. Already he could imagine his father working the controls of the Solid Vision system they'd had installed inside this planetarium. Such a setup served a double purpose: not only did it allow for a more realistic view of the night sky than most other places could manage, but it also served as a training arena for Fuyu to practice _Duel Monsters_. Since his family lived in a space under the building, that privilege was almost exclusively his own—although it didn't stop kids wanting to challenge each other to Duels when they realized how this planetarium worked.

"Slowly but surely," Yuki was saying to the kids in the meantime, her hand hovering over a series of light switches, "it starts … to get … _dark_."

And then—in an instant that was everything _but_ slow and sure—every light inside the room went out.

Instantly, chaos erupted. Most of the children were young enough that they wouldn't know better; there were a number of _oohs_ , _ahhs_ , and _whoas_ that rose from the crowds. Several kids, though, seemed to get the feeling that something was wrong—the lady had said she would " _slowly_ turn off the lights", they were saying over and over again. One or two of them were starting to go into tearful hysterics from the suddenness of what had happened.

"Everyone please remain calm!" shouted the chaperones, desperately trying to restore order to the inky darkness that enveloped the room. "Everything's okay—just a power bump! We'll be back on in no time!"

Yuki, meanwhile, could just barely be seen ducking into a side door, which led to the control room for the entire planetarium. No doubt she was trying to find out what had gone wrong, Fuyu thought. It couldn't possibly be a thunderstorm—the sky had been clear as crystal all afternoon; besides, he hadn't heard even a rumble of thunder!

That hadn't stopped the Xyz user, however, from curling up into a ball beside the door and promptly beginning to shiver—an act that he hadn't been driven to do in weeks. Much had happened in the time since then—so he wouldn't admit it to anyone today—but something about this was beginning to scare Fuyu … it was almost like back then, when he'd first heard the grim news about the disappearance of his best—his _only_ friend …

* * *

 _3:20 P.M._

In another part of Maiami City, there lay a small park. It was a beautiful place in the springtime, owing to the cherry trees that lined the edges of the grass, separating it from the city proper to the point that it felt like a whole other world. At any given time, people could be found picnicking under the pale pink blossoms, marveling at the beauty of this hidden space, nestled inside the hustle and bustle of the city around them.

Recently, however, that hustle and bustle had started to trickle into the tranquil park, for a Dueling arena with its own Solid Vision generator had been set up nearby. It was rarely used for several reasons—one being a reluctance to take away from the natural beauty of the park—but merely on occasion, such was the prevalence of Duel Monsters in their culture. The other reason that this arena rarely saw use was that it belonged to a small shrine, and it was inside this shrine that two boys were to be found, resting after an intense session of training. Not many children their age were as athletically minded, but then these two kids weren't like most children.

Tōdō Yaiba was, as a matter of fact, not only the top-ranked Synchro Duelist at the Leo Duel School; he'd also been the representative of the entire Summoning course for more than a year—even though he was only fourteen years old, while the boy sitting beside him was a few years his senior, and considerably more fit than he was. Not for nothing, however, had Yaiba gotten to this point faster than any Synchro Duelist before him; he was one of the toughest kids in the entire school, from a physical standpoint; had he not borne witness to the events of last month, he might even claim to be one of the toughest mentally as well. That honor, however, went to another one of his friends—he was not ashamed to admit that.

He slicked back his spiky brown hair—streaked liberally with the sweat of today's workout—and glanced at the boy next to him. Li Shen was not a part of the Leo Duel School, strictly speaking, but was instead a member of one of its branch schools; he attended the Shanghai school in his native China, and was one of the top-ranked Synchro Duelists there. He could very easily have been _the_ top, Yaiba thought—he'd Dueled Shen enough times to know that he was more than capable of flattening him like Kachidoki Isao had done at the Maiami Championship. But the difference between a boy like that and a boy like Shen was that Shen knew there was more to Dueling than simply wanting to win—a lesson both of them knew all too well after what had happened to them a few weeks ago.

Ever since Yaiba had been medically cleared to restart the majority of his training regimen again—not all of his injuries had resulted from his scrap with Kachidoki—he'd been meeting Shen here almost daily. This was mostly because the two Synchro Duelists had known each other for far longer than the month since their worlds and livelihoods had changed—but it also had to do with the face that Shen practiced a degree of loyalty that few friends possessed … enough to make Yaiba suspect that he was watching him to make sure he didn't overexert himself, lest he end up back in hospital.

"Ten more minutes' break?" he said to Shen. "We can walk back to LDS after that, have a practice Duel there. I think I've done enough swordsmanship for one day—my arms are starting to get sore." He flopped a hand over the tip of the bamboo _shinai_ he always carried over his back.

"I did tell you not to do too much in too little time," Shen said, as he straightened the simple orange tunic wrapped around his tanned, smooth skin. He'd spent long enough in Japan of late that Yaiba had noticed less of the Chinese accent in his words over time—and there was also the possibility that it would disappear entirely; Shen had confided to him that he wanted to transfer to the main branch of LDS full-time for his last year of Dueling education. Of course, even if that happened, no amount of cultural assimilation would ever take away Shen's preference of formal speech—not even while he was in the presence of his best friends.

"It is not simply your body that must be healed," continued Shen, as he gazed at the cherry blossom tree nearest them, "but your _mind_ as well."

Yaiba knew what he meant—and more importantly, what he was implying. "Still, though," he said, "I feel like I'm getting close to my old self now! Hey—a week or two more and I could be even better than where I was before I faced off against _him_!"

He'd made it a point to not mention Kachidoki within earshot of his training partner; most everything about the Ryōzanpaku School, from its regimen to its general win-at-all-costs attitude towards Dueling, rankled the otherwise unflappable Shen. Maybe he didn't show it as much these days, but the last time he had, Yaiba had had to remind himself just how freakishly _strong_ the Synchro user was. It wasn't easy to crack a half-ton sluice shutter, after all—bare hands or otherwise.

Suddenly, a flurry of movement distracted him: several visitors to the park were clustering together some sixty feet away. Yaiba couldn't hear what they were saying, but the animated way they were moving told him something was up. They weren't alone, either; even as a concerned Yaiba went to ask what was going on, he could see several other groups in the distance, each gesturing outward to the edges of the park … or perhaps, he wondered, were they pointing at the city beyond it? …

"Shen?"

But he had disappeared. Yaiba raised an eyebrow; this was nothing new to him, either. Shen's own athletic training had given him such a physique that he was noticeably faster than perhaps any Duelist his age in all of Japan. He'd seen the seventeen-year-old draw cards so quickly that his arm was naught but a blur, and jump some twenty feet into the air with only his bare feet, only to land without a sound behind some unsuspecting tourist. It made for quite the spectacle—or scare, as Yaiba had had to remind him more than once—but seeing the act in person never failed to leave him in awe.

Several minutes later, Shen reappeared in the plaza, joined by an older man in his fifties who was dressed much like he was; Yaiba assumed him to be one of the people who tended this shrine. Both he and Shen were jabbering away at each other in rapid-fire Chinese; Yaiba could only make out a few scattered phrases.

" _… wǒ xiāngxìn, tāmen de shǒujī yǐjīng shīqùle zhāodài huì …_ "

"He is saying that their mobiles have lost reception," Shen translated for Yaiba. Indeed, now that the Synchro user knew what to look for, he could see that several people in the throngs were brandishing their smartphones into the air as though they were _Duel Monsters_ cards.

Shen turned back to the old man. " _Nándào zhǐyǒu zìjǐ de shǒujī_?"

A shake of his head: _no_. " _Juédòu cípán_." He pointed away from the largest knot of tourists, towards two children of about ten. Each of them were examining their Duel Disks in confusion, tapping at the screen and occasionally slapping it against their leg, as if that would help whatever was going on.

"So it's the Duel Disks _and_ the phones as well?" Yaiba was beginning to get worried. He'd taken out his own Duel Disk upon realizing what the old man had meant, and was currently pressing a few experimental buttons. The screen had activated, but no chevron-shaped blade had appeared—and on the screen, instead of a digital field to display the game state of the current Duel, there was instead a giant NO SIGNAL splashed in the middle.

Shen, meanwhile, was holding another hasty conversation in Chinese with the man. "The Real Solid Vision systems throughout this city are redundant," he explained a moment later, after nodding to his companion. "If one should fail, then another would take its place. That way, it prevents a Duel from being interrupted because of, let us say, a mechanical failure, and potentially losing any data on said Duel as a direct result—therefore forcing a rematch."

Yaiba understood: no doubt this was why so many RSV generators had been installed inside downtown Maiami City prior to the twenty-four Battle Royale of last month's Maiami Championship. A constant state of operation for such an energy-consumptive piece of technology meant that its design capabilities could be severely strained as a result. Having multiple redundant generators, therefore, helped to lessen the burden placed upon each one, which made it possible for them to coordinate their efforts as one, and turn an entire city into an Action Field—or a battleground, as they'd come to learn later on.

If the Solid Vision systems weren't working here, even in this one section of Maiami City, it meant that there was a problem—a very _big_ problem; this was no ordinary power outage.

His Duel Disk suddenly hummed at that point. Yaiba jumped, startled, as a bright green blade lanced out along his forearm. Several people cheered at that point, gesturing at their phones again. Evidently, the power had been restored—the outage, ordinary or no, had only lasted a few minutes. That was a relief to Yaiba, and no doubt to everyone else, he thought, as he watched those two children from before celebrate at the restoration of their Duel—before promptly getting back into the spirit of things and Summoning more monsters to their fields.

 _Some things never change_ , Yaiba thought, smiling wistfully as he watched the Duel unfold.

He was just about to motion to Shen and signal that he was ready to go to LDS any time—and then his Duel Disk suddenly began to vibrate. Confounded, Yaiba looked at the device, tilting his head at the new message that had appeared on the screen:

 **INCOMING CALL**

 **UNKNOWN NUMBER**

Yaiba frowned, before warily answering the call a few seconds later. "Hello?"

* * *

 _3:21 P.M._

 _Four minutes earlier_

Kōtsu Masumi hit the trampoline with a grunt and a groan of springs. Stars continued to dance in her eyes from her opponent's latest attack as she rebounded off the mat, skidding to a halt against one of the bright purple pads that covered the springs of the apparatus.

Even as the Fusion user lay there, however, she felt her body begin to slide along its length, as though it was being flipped out from under her in slow motion. That wasn't so very far from the truth, she knew; she'd Dueled in this setting more than enough times to know that the laws of physics as she knew them seemed to have no meaning here.

Shaking her head to clear away the stars, Masumi slowly got to her feet, brushing a stray strand of jet-black hair out of her sweaty face as she felt the trampoline mat continue to shift and sag under her bare toes. She glanced down at her Duel Disk, and bit her lip at the figure revealed on the screen: _900 LP_ —just inside the danger zone.

"You okay down there, Masu- _chan_?" chirped a shrill voice from high above.

Masumi spared enough time for a thumbs-up in reply before bouncing around the arena, testing the changes to the artificial environment around her; a few moments later, she found a trampoline that was level enough for her to take a breather without having to worry about losing her footing—or her mind. Not that Masumi was having a rough time of it here—she was indeed feeling okay, but she was also feeling a few other things at the moment; namely, a number of stitches in her chest and sore muscles in her legs that she'd thought she'd come to accept as normal after starting to frequent this place more often.

The Trampo-Land trampoline park—questionable name aside—had become one of her more favored hangout spots in recent days. Not because she was in it to have fun— _well_ , she admitted with a smile, _maybe just a_ little bit _of fun_ —but more importantly, it was because Masumi had felt the need to improve herself both in body and mind since that fateful Duel a few weeks ago. In the twenty-four hours that had led up to it, and the twenty-four hours that had followed, the top-ranked Fusion Duelist of the Leo Duel School had come to the conclusion that she needed to be much stronger—much _faster_ , more _alert_ , and more _observant_ of her surroundings to come out on top—than she'd ever been in the past, if ever she found herself in another Duel that could mean the difference between life and death.

The Action Field that came with this Trampo-Land—and the one that had been active ever since the start of this Duel—had been, in Masumi's mind, the perfect venue to achieve all three of those goals. _Gravity Sixteen_ was best described as the unholy fusion of a trampoline park and a tesseract—being constructed of a collection of Solid Vision mats, each one the size of her bedroom, each one lined with purple and white pads, all folded into a cube-within-a-cube that constantly rotated in four different dimensions, nestled inside a protective sphere of foam blocks, into which the loser of the Duel would often be sent.

Navigating this labyrinthine Field, therefore, was as confusing as it was exhausting; ceilings, floors, and walls were often one and the same—even being able to switch roles in the time it took to draw breath. It was mostly for this reason that Masumi—though she'd already begun to see positive results from coming here every other day since her release from hospital—had yet to stop cursing the inevitable aches and pains that would plague her for the rest of the day every time she came here.

But the place was just so damned _fun_ that the soreness was worth it. If there was ever a moment where she _hated_ coming here to Duel, Masumi thought, then she might as well quit the game outright.

Today, as it happened, was no different; wincing as her fingers brushed over one such aching part of her body, Masumi signaled to her opponent that despite all appearances, she was good to go.

"Awesome!" giggled the girl floating above her. "Then I'll Set a card an' end my turn!"

High above Masumi, the bottom of a face-down card materialized from thin air, soon fading from view to reveal the monumental grin of its owner, who sat atop a spiky, golden bird of prey encased in lightning. The Duel Monster was floating upside down, rider and all, yet the messy blond hair of the latter didn't even move an inch—just one more trait of the impossible geometry that defined _Gravity Sixteen_ , and that only Solid Vision could make possible.

It was impossible to look at Menoko Hotene and see the face of a little girl who, barely a month ago, had undergone excruciating torture at the hands of a Duelist unlike any she'd ever encountered before. Yet that was exactly what the nine-year-old prodigy of LDS' Junior Fusion course had been through; in fact, out of all the Duelists she'd roped into facing that threat, Masumi knew without a doubt that Hotene had suffered the worst of them all. Her young age had required an extra amount of time in hospital—in fact, it was only a week ago that the doctors had allowed her to compete in Action Duels of any kind again, so great was the strain that had been put on her body and mind.

Hotene, however, had bounced back—Masumi couldn't help but feel the turn of phrase was appropriate here—as only a child her age could. She was still as rambunctious, impulsive, and whimsical as she'd been on the first day Masumi had met her; the tiny Duelist's mind was governed by the single, simple desire to have fun. Not even the nightmare she'd had to brave had stopped her from fulfilling that desire after the doctors had given her the go-ahead to come back to her favorite hangout spot … although Masumi didn't doubt it had left a few dents in her psyche.

She analyzed the tiny Duelist's field. In addition to the lightning-wreathed bird that the upside-down Hotene was perched on (Level 6: _ATK 1400_ /DEF 1600), and the card she'd Set just now, another monster hovered either side of her steed—one, a pink, armored dolphin (Level 6: ATK 200/ _DEF 2800_ ); the other, a huge beast covered in dark red fur and tongues of fire (Level 6: _ATK 2600_ /DEF 400).

Masumi hadn't been able to break through Hotene's defenses in this Duel; the little girl still had all 4000 of her Life Points. However, she didn't have any cards in her hand; she'd expended them all in putting her current field together. Masumi, on the other hand, had five cards in her hand, as well as a Set card of her own—and even now, she could visualize the strategy forming inside her brain as she checked over each one in turn.

"My turn!" she cried out, drawing her card … _Yes!_ the Fusion Duelist thought. _I was wondering when I'd draw this!_

"I activate the Spell Card: _Gem-Knight Fusion_!" Masumi called out, "and fuse the _Gem-Knight Sanyx_ , _Gem-Knight Amber_ , and _Gem-Knight Iola_ in my hand for a Fusion Summon!" At once, three large warriors, each clad in sparkling armor of different colors—one of pinkish-red, another a brownish-yellow, and a third in a sort of grayish-blue—all shimmered onto the grid of trampolines on which she stood.

Then, with a mighty leap and another groan of springs, Masumi catapulted herself onto the padded platform in the center of the grid. The three _Gem-Knights_ rose up with her, their paths converging into the hurricane of swirling colors that had suddenly formed above the Duel—and the Fusion Duelist began to chant:

 **"Gem of crimson fire! Stone of golden ages! Crystal of eternal ice! In a whirlpool of light, combine to bring forth a new dazzling radiance!"**

 **"Fusion Summon!"** Masumi declared, as a pure-white light erupted above her. **"One who illuminates everything with its supreme radiance!** ** _Gem-Knight Master Dia_** **!"**

She couldn't resist the smile that broke out upon her face. It was nowhere near as wide as Hotene's—and certainly not as bright as the light that had flared behind her. That light now dimmed to reveal an enormous crystal warrior (Level 9: _ATK 2900_ /DEF 2500), almost three times her height and brandishing a blade that was wider than Masumi was at the shoulder.

"I was wonderin' when you were gonna bring that big guy out, Masu- _chan_!" Hotene called out from on high. "But you only got one big monster on your field, an' I got _three_!"

"Oh, I'm just getting started!" laughed Masumi. Gem-Knight Master Dia's effect, after all—as Hotene knew full well—allowed it to gain 100 ATK for each _Gem-_ monster in her Graveyard. Since she'd sent three such monsters to the Graveyard to bring it out in the first place, that meant 3200 ATK—and sure enough, its ATK gauge had just stopped at that precise amount.

"Next, I'll Summon my _Gem-Knight Alexand_ —and then I'll Release it to activate its effect, which lets me Special Summon a _Gem-Knight_ Normal Monster from my Deck! That monster will be … my _Gem-Knight Crysta_!" This was another strategy she'd borrowed from her first Duel against Hotene—but more importantly, it was one that would work in this situation.

She swiped several cards hither and thither, and several things happened in rapid succession: yet another sparkling knight—this time in silver plate armor (Level 4: _ATK 1800_ /DEF 1500)—materialized briefly onto the trampolines before fading away, only to be replaced by an even larger warrior, almost twice as tall as Masumi (Level 7: _ATK 2450_ /DEF 1950).

The Fusion user now back-flipped off the platform she'd been standing on, feeling the mailed hands of her _Crysta_ catch her mere moments later. The Duel Monster launched himself into the air—and then Masumi made her move.

"Now—Trap Card, open: _Doublet Fusion_!" she cried, revealing her sole Set card. "This'll let me banish monsters from my Graveyard for another Fusion Summon—even though that monster will be destroyed at the end of my turn. But that doesn't matter!" she said to Hotene, close enough to see her blue eyes widen to the size of teacups as she realized what Masumi might be about to Summon.

"That's right!" cried the Fusion Duelist. "I'm going to banish _Sanyx_ , _Amber_ , _and Iola_ from my Graveyard to Summon _this_!" Once again, the three different-colored knights faded in and out of existence before disappearing into a second vortex of energy:

 **"** ** _Fusion Summon!_** **"** Masumi screamed. **"This is my _true_ ace—the dazzling ****_Gem-Knight Lady Brilliant Dia_** **!"**

She launched herself out of _Crysta's_ clutches as a second, brighter flash of light filled the Action Field, performing several more gymnastic maneuvers as she did so. By the time she bounced off another trampoline, the monster she'd Fusion Summoned had already appeared on the field: a huge female warrior some fifteen feet tall, its polished armor throwing rays of light in every direction (Level 10: _ATK 3400_ /DEF 2000).

"Now I'll activate my _Brilliant Dia's_ effect!" shouted Masumi at the top of her lungs. "Once per turn, I can Release a _Gem-Knight_ monster I control, then Special Summon a _Gem-Knight_ Fusion Monster from my Extra Deck—and I can bypass its Summoning conditions to do it! So I'll Release my _Crysta_ and bring out my _Gem-Knight Zirconia!_ "

As _Master Dia's_ ATK was quickly adjusted to 3100, owing to the new monsters in Masumi's Graveyard, _Crysta_ then disappeared in a flash of illumination; moments later, a heavy, broad knight had appeared on the trampoline where it had stood. Its fists were nothing so much as giant crystals the size of car tires, smashing through the air this way and that as if trying to break through an invisible wall (Level 8: _ATK 2900_ /DEF 2500).

Now! "Battle Phase!" Masumi yelled, launching herself skyward with a mighty leap, where the armored hand of _Brilliant Dia_ deftly caught her in midair and plunked her on her back. " _Gem-Knight Zirconia_ —attack Hotene's _Tamed Spirit Beast Petolphin_!"

The piledriver-handed knight obeyed instantly, bearing down upon the pink dolphin like a considerably more mobile freight train. One second later, that freight train had plowed right through _Petolphin_ , shattering its holographic form into millions of hard-light splinters. Fortunately for Hotene, however, the monster had been in Defense Position when it was destroyed, meaning the tiny Duelist wouldn't take any damage from the attack.

"Next! _Gem-Knight Master Dia_!" cried Masumi, as _Brilliant Dia_ maneuvered its way along the shifting surfaces of trampolines. "Attack _Tamed Spirit Beast Apelio_!" The broad, jewel-encrusted blade of the monster sliced sideways in a large arc, cutting through the furred bulk of the monster with ease. It, too, vanished into photonic dust—but this time, the shockwave from the attack caught Hotene atop her mount, causing her LP to drop to 3500.

Masumi, however, paid this no attention; she'd seen a flash of light just now—only a brief one—but enough experience playing this game had taught her to recognize an Action Card when she saw one. So she dismounted from _Brilliant Dia_ , plucked that Action Card from where it had been wedged between a trampoline and its thick pad, slapped it onto the fiery orange blade of her Duel Disk, then bounced on the trampoline and back onto Brilliant Dia's back.

All this happened in a matter of seconds; it was a maneuver that the Masumi of a month ago wouldn't even have dreamed she'd be capable of. The more she Dueled here, though, the more she believed this place was beginning to transform her, both in body and in mind. She was improving—but she wasn't where she wanted to be just yet.

"Now I'll activate the Action Spell: _High Dive_ ," Masumi explained, "then target my _Brilliant Dia_ to give it 1000 extra ATK until the end of the turn!" The knight sailed downward with a gracefulness that belied its sheer size, rebounding off one of the mats to soar back into the air, sword held at the ready as its ATK gauge rose to _**4400**_ —

"Now— _Brilliant Dia!_ " Masumi shrieked as the monster reached the apex of its leap. "Attack _Tamed Spirit Beast Kanna_ —"

And then several things happened without warning.

Masumi felt the hard light of her monster disappear out from under her body at exactly the same time as she noticed all the lights in the arena go out, plunging the entire room into darkness. Startled cries and shrieks from the crowds that had been watching the Duel erupted from below—but Masumi didn't hear them; in the time it had taken for those lights to go out, her mind had just come to a very unpleasant conclusion.

Namely, the fact that the Real Solid Vision generator below them had been deactivated, the fact that almost all the hard-light trampolines that made up _Gravity Sixteen_ had disappeared into thin air—and the fact that at the time the power had gone out, she'd used _Brilliant Dia_ to propel herself some fifty feet upward, near the very top of the arena.

But most importantly, the fact that _she had no other means of staying there_.

Masumi barely heard herself begin to scream as she plummeted towards the ground, flailing about in the air—her heart had skipped into her mouth, and images began flashing in her darkened vision—

Then, she felt the breath leave her as something caught her in the stomach. She yowled in pain—the recoil of whatever had hit her made her spine feel as though a fully-grown bull had knocked it about. But whatever it was had slowed her descent, if far from gently—and it slowly dawned on her that she wasn't about to die today.

She reached out with her hand experimentally, and felt a thin, flexible grid of cords on her palm, with enough space between each one to wiggle her pinky finger.

 _Nets?_ Masumi thought. _Must be a safety feature or something._ It wasn't hard to guess why they might exist here; in hindsight, Masumi was surprised the notion hadn't occurred to her earlier. No doubt the people that had built Trampo-Land had taken into account that any Duelist who used _Gravity Sixteen_ for an Action Field might be tempted to do the same thing she had, and fly high up into the arena for some dramatic attack or other. But on the off chance the power would cut out at that point—as it seemed to have done now—nets like the one that currently enveloped the Fusion user would be deployed to stop said Duelist from meeting a sticky end—and potentially stop said Duelist's parents from suing the park out of existence in the process, liability waivers be damned.

In the meantime, there was little else Masumi could do but let gravity bear her down towards one of the trampolines inside the arena—one of about two dozen that weren't created by Solid Vision, but had been built into the place for sports like dodgeball, basketball, or volleyball. After what felt like a few minutes, Masumi finally felt the mat give way beneath her, and she began the arduous task of struggling to her feet while inside a huge net at the same time.

"Everyone okay in there?" shouted a voice Masumi couldn't recognize. Most likely one of the park monitors, she guessed, who watched the place in an attempt to make sure that nobody tried anything that might get themselves injured, or worse—much like what she'd tried to do, she remembered with a slight stab of foolishness.

"I'm okay!" chirped Hotene. Masumi heard a whoosh of air; she'd released a relieved breath that she had no idea she'd been holding—she'd forgotten about the tiny Duelist completely. Although, if she remembered right, Hotene had been much closer to the ground when the park had lost power, so even though the nets might not have reached her in time, she might have been close enough to the trampolines that it wouldn't have mattered anyway.

"I'm okay, too," Masumi managed to cough out, reaching out with her free hand, feeling the grip of the unknown attendant clasp onto her wrist, hauling her out of the net and onto her feet. "Thanks for that. What happened here?"

"I couldn't tell you," the attendant replied. "All I can figure is that a few minutes ago, we lost power somehow—but this is no ordinary outage. People are saying their phones aren't getting any reception—so whatever did this knocked out cell service in the area as well. Frankly, I'm glad they give us these radios, or we'd be having to run back and forth to find out what the heck's going on here—ah, here we go—"

The lights had just flared on: the power was back! Masumi's relief was quickly snuffed out, however, by the pain stabbing her eyelids; spending even a few minutes in utter darkness had made the lights even brighter than she'd anticipated. Most of the crowd was cheering at seeing the power come back on; a number of them, mostly kids younger than Hotene, had stormed the arena to jump in the pits of foam that lined either side of the trampoline court.

The attendant quickly excused herself to see to those kids in an attempt to maintain order, which gave Masumi the excuse to check on Hotene. "You sure you're doing all right?" the Fusion user asked.

"Uh-huh!" Hotene piped up, springing to her feet from where she'd been attempting to climb the nets; Masumi now saw they'd appeared from opposite ends of the court, closing in on each other like sliding doors so as to cover as much ground as possible. Why Hotene wanted to climb them was a mystery—but then again, she was only a kid.

That also meant Hotene was a lot more impressionable than she was, Masumi knew, and therefore a lot easier to scare under the right conditions—including the hell they'd all been forced to go through last month. "Are you _absolutely_ sure?" she pressed on, her voice soft.

Before Hotene could reply, a cheery female voice suddenly appeared from the tannoy near the doors that led into the rest of the park. " _Attention, all jumpers and Duelists_ ," it said. " _Due to unforeseen difficulties, we are closing the park for maintenance effective immediately_."

There was a chorus of groans from the children playing in the foam. " _If you have half an hour or more remaining on your ticket_ ," the tannoy continued, " _please head over to our front desk, where you will receive a full refund of your purchase. Any updates on the current situation will be sent out via email or posted on social media. We appreciate your understanding, and we apologize for the inconvenience. Thank you—we look forward to seeing you again soon!_ "

The artificial optimism of the synthesized voice was clearly not shared by everyone else present; the kids slowly climbed out of the foam pits and filed out of the arena, still grumbling about their rotten luck. One or two of them stopped to have one last bounce on the nearest trampoline, but the attendants present—and a sharp look from the guilty children's parents nearby—made sure their fun was short-lived.

Masumi couldn't help but feel a stab of pity as she watched them leave—especially since Hotene looked more downcast than any kid here. "Don't worry," she soothed, checking her watch. "We'll get our money back—we only got here twenty minutes ago. We can come back tomorrow, and we'll have another Duel."

"Aw—but I might not win the next Duel!" protested the tiny Duelist, as she followed Masumi out of the arena and down the stairs towards the park's exit.

"Like you were going to win this one?" Masumi smiled wryly at her. The hint of the friendly rivalry both Fusion users shared seemed to perk up Hotene, if only slightly.

The first time Masumi had journeyed to Trampo-Land, and met Hotene for the first time, the diminutive Duelist had issued a challenge to her face. Masumi, deciding to take advantage of the opportunity, had accepted the Duel—and proceeded to lose quite handily. In fairness, she'd had her reasons at the time, but she'd vastly underestimated Hotene's talents all the same.

A week later, while Hotene was still recovering in hospital, Masumi put together a proposition: the moment Hotene was well enough to do so, she would Duel Masumi inside _Gravity Sixteen_. And so they had; this time, after a hard-fought Duel, Masumi had emerged the victor. However, Hotene was not one to be outdone; the tiny Duelist had challenged her back a few days later—and promptly wiped the trampoline floors with Masumi's _Gem-Knights_.

From there, the rivalry between the two Fusion users had blossomed into a twice- or thrice-weekly event. Each time, they'd get together, have a few high-spirited, high-flying Duels—with occasional breaks in between—then laugh about it while nursing their sore muscles later on. Or—to be more specific—while _Masumi_ nursed her sore muscles; whether Hotene was just that young, or that used to the maddening properties of _Gravity Sixteen_ , the devious little girl never seemed to get tired, even after hours of Dueling on end. Before today, their record had stood at ten wins apiece; this Duel would have been the deciding battle before month's end.

"You weren't going to beat me that turn, an' you know it!" Hotene shot back, tipping a cutesy wink in Masumi's direction. "Even if that last attack had hit me, I'd still have five hundred Life Points!"

"So you would," admitted Masumi. "But I also had _Gem-Knight Lapis_ and _Gem-Knight Lazuli_ in my hand. I was planning on banishing another _Gem-Knight_ from my Graveyard to bring _Gem-Knight Fusion_ back into my hand, then fusing _Lapis_ and Lazuli together to form _Lady Lapis Lazuli_."

"Still wouldn't have done you any good, _Masu-chan_!" Hotene said gaily as she skipped down the stairs. "You wouldn't be able to attack me with it!"

"I wouldn't need to," Masumi smiled at her. " _Lapis Lazuli's_ effect lets me send a monster from my Extra Deck to the Graveyard—then inflicts damage to my opponent for every Special Summoned monster on the field."

She paused for emphasis. " _Five hundred_ points of damage, to be precise."

Hotene looked as though she'd just swallowed her tongue as Masumi's words slowly sank in. "Careful now, Hotene," the Fusion user giggled. "You don't want your face to get stuck like that forever, do you?"

The tiny Duelist blew a very wet raspberry at her in reply, which only made Masumi giggle even louder as they reached the front desk of Trampo-Land, and the teenager at the till who looked as though he wanted to be doing anything but facing a crowd of parents and children looking for refunds.

"So, Hotene," Masumi asked, rummaging in her purse for her ticket, "what would you have done in the face of four Fusion Monsters—two of whom had over 3000 ATK—with no field, no hand and five hundred Life Points to your name? I can't think of any Action Cards that might save you there—but you're welcome to prove me wrong."

From the look on Hotene's face, it seemed as though she was ready to do exactly that—and then Masumi's Duel Disk chose that moment to chime; someone was calling her.

Masumi inspected the screen—neither the number nor the caller ID was listed, which automatically made her suspicious. It was a tactic favored by a robo-callers and scam artists—so was with no small amount of trepidation, therefore, that Masumi eventually allowed the call to connect.

"Hello?" she asked, raising her voice slightly over the crowds that were beginning to gather in front of the increasingly harassed-looking customer service desk.

A soft, cold voice answered her back. "I need to see you and your friends in my office immediately." Before a suddenly uneasy Masumi could reply back, the line had clicked—and went dead shortly thereafter.

The Fusion user stared at the screen, at once filled with confusion and dread. She knew that voice all too well—and the last time she'd heard _her_ speak in that tone, Masumi had been worried she was seconds away from being kicked out of LDS.

"Um … well, then," she eventually managed. "Hotene, we might have to take a rain check on our Duel next time. Chairwoman Akaba wants to see the both of us—and probably the others as well," she added hastily, as she heard her Duel Disk begin to ring a second time for an incoming call.

This time, however, she recognized both the caller ID and the number—and so answered the call considerably more quickly than before. "Yaiba? I was just about to find you."

"She called you, too, huh?" the voice of LDS' Synchro representative crackled out over the speaker. It sounded like he was running a marathon, judging by the way he was breathing. "Guess you're not the only one she wants to talk to, then. Shen's already gone over to pick up Fuyu—he's still not answering his phone. The power bump probably spooked him—what doesn't?—but you never know. Anyway, they'll meet us on campus as soon as they can."

"What do you think Himika wants to see _all_ of us for?" Masumi could understand why the most powerful woman in Maiami City might want to talk to her—and probably Yaiba as well—but the rest of her friends to boot?

"Search me," Yaiba replied. "You didn't go peeking around in any more databases, did you?"

"That was _one time_ , you idiot!" snorted Masumi. "I guess we'll find out soon enough. I've got Hotene with me right now—we'll head over to LDS as soon as we're done here." _At least we got here before things_ really _started getting hectic_ , she thought, gazing at the poor teenager behind the till handing out refunds.

"Right," Yaiba said. "See you there." And he hung up.

* * *

 **A/N: Confession time—I** ** _may_** **have written most of this in a single day. On the plus side, I think it means I've rediscovered my creative edge after spending so long in the doldrums. It may also mean, however, that there's likely a bunch of errors in this chapter. I'll give it a once-over as soon as I have a free moment.**

 **This is likely to be the last thing I'll be releasing until around September,** ** **since I'll be changing apartments in a couple weeks, which is always a time for adjustment**. That doesn't mean I won't try to give you fine people anything sooner, though; ****I've outlined a few upcoming installments for both this and for _Rain's Hand_ , so that is a possibility.  
**

 **The next chapter should have the first complete Duel so far in the story. I'm looking forward to writing it. Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoy! – K**


	3. III

III

 _Leo Duel School_

 _3:52 P.M._

It was with no small amount of trepidation that Masumi ascended towards the topmost floor of LDS some thirty minutes later. No one else with her seemed to share nearly as much concern as she did; Hotene, never one to stay still for longer than it took to blink an eye, had been bouncing on the balls of her feet since the doors of the elevator had closed. Shen and Yaiba were too busy catching their breath to talk, and Fuyu—who Shen, apparently, had had to quite literally haul out of the planetarium like a sack of grain—was still slowly recovering from the scare he'd been subjected to. He was paler than usual—and that was saying something—but at least the poor boy was standing under his own power, Masumi thought; he was in his ubiquitous one-piece, spacesuit-like outfit as well, so he'd at least had time to change into something that would protect his pasty skin from getting burnt by the sun.

No one spoke as the lift climbed further and further up the tallest building in the city. Masumi could tell that of all the people in this elevator, everyone but the Fusion user was too preoccupied with their own thoughts to feel the same uneasiness that crept through her like a chill. For the last time she'd been on this elevator, Masumi had inadvertently set off a security alert while using the student computer lab to collect information on a Deck. In the process, she'd come dangerously close to accessing some files that LDS had classified following the disastrous Maiami Championship; Masumi had considered herself very fortunate to have escaped punishment for her actions that day—at least, she'd felt fortunate at the time.

It didn't appear as though she was in trouble this time—she couldn't even remember putting a single toe out of line in class ever since—whether at LDS or at Maiami Second Middle School, where she was almost ready to graduate thanks to the special dual enrollment program that existed between the two institutions.

And yet, as she felt the elevator begin to slow down under her feet, Masumi felt even more anxious right now than she had back then. Her discovery had been the catalyst for everything that had happened to her one month ago—was this, then, also going to be the stepping-stone towards a chain of events that would put even the wildest of her dreams to shame?

The doors opened, and the Fusion Duelist's heart immediately clenched another millimeter. _No turning back now_. "Let's go," she said to the others, noticing how terse her voice sounded.

Hotene was the first to follow her out of the lift. She still continued to skip with every step she took, but the tiny Duelist had taken note of the silent hallway that preceded the sole door at its end; her hops were considerably less frivolous than they'd been on the way here. Fuyu followed, while Shen and Yaiba brought up the rear close behind him—no doubt to make sure the fragile Xyz Duelist didn't fall to pieces on the way.

"It's all right," Yaiba was heard to whisper to him. "We won't be in there for long … We're not in trouble … "

 _I hope you're right, Yaiba_ , Masumi thought as they approached the door. _Because I could sure use a boost of your confidence right now_.

* * *

Akaba Himika was already seated at her desk by the time the five children filed in one by one, Masumi in the lead.

There was an uncommon joke among the students of LDS that the most powerful woman in Maiami City "had more heart in her hair than anywhere else." The first time she'd heard the jibe being whispered in the hallways, Masumi had confronted the people responsible and admonished them quite decisively, believing it was a callous taunt aimed at the distinctive heart-shaped, heart-colored coiffure of their headmistress.

Recent events, however, had given the Fusion user a closer insight into Himika than most people would prefer to possess—and a suspicion that the students she'd reprimanded might not necessarily have been joking at all. The Chairwoman of the Leo Duel School was cold and calculating in the most corporate sense of the terms; she had no compunction about using her own students to further her continuing pursuit to gobble up as many Duel Schools as possible, rebrand them under the name she'd built for herself, and thus expand the international presence of the Leo Corporation. Masumi had been a part of one such scheme before the Maiami Championship had even taken place—how minor her Duel at the You Show Duel School had felt, in comparison to everything that had come after that!

In the time since, she'd befriended a mysterious, brooding Duelist—only to learn that she'd only _believed_ that was the case, when the truth of it all was far more complicated. Kurosaki Shun was more than just a Duelist, as it had happened; he was a warrior from an unimaginable land … and a refugee fleeing an even more unimaginable hell. It had been Himika who had made her forget who Kurosaki was—what he'd been capable of doing, and had in fact done to her on a day that seemed so long ago, she no longer remembered _when_ it had happened … only that it _had_.

It was for this reason that Masumi's eyes did not waver even the slightest micron from the twin chips of ice set into Himika's skull. She might have named herself a "friend", but Masumi was of the opinion that friends were made by getting to know them—not by making use of them. A mind as business-oriented as Himika's—however shrewd and sharp it admittedly was—could not comprehend this simple fact of social life; she and Masumi were friends only in the loosest possible meaning of the word. They were student and principal—with all the tension that implied.

"We came as quickly as we could," Masumi said to her as she crossed the length of the office. It was a vast space—easily the size of her house—yet very sparsely furnished; the relative lack of furniture ensured that she could hear her footsteps echoing on the marble floor as she approached her headmistress.

"Sit down, please." Himika gave no other acknowledgement of Masumi's terse greeting besides waving her hand towards a number of chairs placed neatly before her desk. Hotene and Fuyu took one apiece almost immediately; Yaiba followed suit a few moments later.

Shen crossed over with him, and stood beside him—but did not sit down. Deciding that Shen was trying to look as though he had no fear of whatever might happen next, Masumi imitated him, standing beside the chair Hotene was currently swinging her legs on. Her eyes still did not waver from Himika's.

No one spoke for some time; all eyes were on either Masumi or Himika as they continued to stare each other down.

Finally, Hotene broke the spell. "Is Masu- _chan_ in trouble?" she inquired.

"That remains to be seen," said Himika cryptically as she stood up from her chair. As she did so, she tapped a panel of switches at her desk. Instantly, the wall of windows that overlooked the metropolitan expanse of downtown Maiami City began to darken, the normally spotless glass gaining a smoky, translucent look to it.

"I apologize if I was not especially forthcoming when I called you here today," Himika said. "For the time being, however, events demand I be discreet. Normally, I would leave this in the capable hands of my son, but as he is currently … _elsewhere_ , I am forced to rely on outside help."

She glared at them all. "What I'm about to tell you is not to be repeated outside of my office, is that understood?"

"Yes, ma'am," Fuyu said immediately. He was the very image of obedience: doing as he was told, speaking only when spoken to.

"Yes, _ma'am_ ," Masumi echoed him, emphasizing the term of address with deliberate intent.

Himika's ice-blue stare lingered on Masumi for a moment, before falling away. "Very good," she said, before pressing another switch. This activated a projector that shined on the section of smoky window directly behind the Chairwoman's desk. The glare solidified into an image that Masumi was quick to recognize as an overhead view of Maiami City—centered, of course, on the Leo Duel School.

"Thirty-two minutes ago," said Himika crisply, "a sudden surge in the power grid caused roughly seventy-eight percent of downtown Maiami City to lose power for approximately three and a half minutes." Several large sections of the city were highlighted in a faint shade of red. Masumi knew enough about the layout of the city to know that within these sections lay the planetarium where Fuyu and his family lived, along with the shrine and plaza where Yaiba had been training with Shen more and more often these days—and of Trampo-Land, where she and Hotene had been at the time of the outage.

"This much you should already know," Himika went on. "But while official cause has not yet been given, at present I can say with certainty that the surge originated within the Leo Corporation's research and development division."

Masumi leaned forward, breaking eye contact with the LDS headmistress for the first time to get a better view of the map. The section of the city where the Duel School was build was pulsing slightly. Then, a moment later, at a slight adjustment from the panel on Himika's desk, the layout of the map had suddenly shifted from an overhead view to a trimetric angle, allowing the five children to see the glowing representation of LDS in three dimensions—

—or more appropriately, a section of LDS _beneath the surface of the city_. This was a surprise to Masumi; she had no idea that the Leo Corporation had any facilities under sea level—let alone under LDS.

"What has happened?" Shen asked, his voice as calm as ever.

"Several technicians were testing the prototype for a product we recently began shipping to Duel Schools around the world," explained Himika. "According to eyewitness reports, there was a sudden increase in Summoning energy reported in one of the testing facilities. This energy wreaked havoc with the security systems for several minutes until the door could be forced open physically. It was then discovered that the chamber beyond had suffered severe damage, and the programmer who was testing the product had apparently vanished."

Masumi felt a cold pit yawning open in her stomach. _Summoning energy?!_ An old memory suddenly floated to the top of her mind. "What … kind of energy?" she asked suspiciously. "Was it Fusion?"

"No," Himika shook her head. " _Pendulum_. Not especially high-powered, either," she added, ignoring Masumi's look of surprise, "and certainly not enough to cause a surge like this on its own."

 _Pendulum Summoning energy?_ Something about this sounded off to Masumi—and then it hit her; the way Himika was talking almost seemed like—

"You sound like you already know who did it," she said, trying to sound as far from accusing as possible.

To her surprise, the cold stare of Himika dimmed slightly. "That is … not entirely true," she said, gazing out at the city from the smoky window. "I know _what_ did it. I do not, however, know _who_ is responsible or _how_ at this time. The surveillance cameras within the R &D division operate on a closed circuit; I cannot access them from here."

Abruptly, she turned round. "Up until now, I have been relying on runners to relay information to me from R&D. To find out the particulars of what has taken place down there, we will need to go down ourselves."

Masumi's mouth suddenly felt very dry. _She wants to take us to the Leo Corporation's R &D facilities?!_ That was not something every student got to do even once during their time at LDS—only the most seasoned of scholars and Duelists were permitted a glimpse of the corporation's inner workings, and then only if they were planning on pursuing a future with the company. Such favors were not to be handed out so capriciously as they were today.

 _What was Himika planning?_

Yaiba, it seemed, appeared to have the same litany of questions on his tongue as Masumi. "' _We?_ '" he asked, glancing around the office as if expecting to find some other group of people in this office.

When no such group appeared before them: "Y-you mean _us_?!" blurted the Synchro Duelist. "But—I-I don't know how we'd be able to help you down there. I mean," he added swiftly, as Himika's icy gaze rounded on him, "don't you think you might have us punching a _little bit_ above our weight here?"

His tone was delicate, as if he knew he was walking on eggshells. It was most unlike the brash, aggressive teenager Masumi knew—such was the effect of being in the presence of someone as financially powerful as Akaba Himika.

"From what Masumi has told me," the Chairwoman said, "you were punching _quite_ a bit above your weight during the _Shaddoll_ incident last month. You and Masumi also proved capable at helping LDS in the past, before … yes," she added. She appeared to bite her tongue, but did not say anything further. Perhaps, Masumi thought to herself, knowing full well the incident of which Himika was talking about, it was just as well she remained silent.

"My point is that—although I have no evidence to support it as of yet," Himika went on, "I suspect foul play may have taken place at our testing facilities. As a result, I have halted all shipping and manufacturing of any further mass-produced units of the product in question until this affair has been resolved—but that is not enough."

She sighed—in itself a remarkable sight; it was most unlike the headmistress of the Leo Duel School to appear so vulnerable to her students. It almost made her seem more … _human_ , a surprised Masumi thought.

 _Almost_.

But it did not last long—although Himika's next words were in a slightly softer tone of voice than usual. "My son, Reiji, seemed to believe that the youth of Maiami City stood the best chance of helping to protect it," she said. "Through no small effort of your own, I've come to agree with his sentiments wholeheartedly."

She turned on her heel, facing the five children before her desk, her eyes roving over each one in turn as she spoke. "Kōtsu Masumi—Tōdō Yaiba—Menoko Hotene—Li Shen—and Rokkaku Fuyu."

There was a pause. Then: "I have called you here today … to create a new group of Lancers."

There was an even longer pause, as Himika's words gradually sunk in.

Masumi and Hotene were the first to react—doing so in near-perfect tandem. " _Huh?!_ "

"What?" Fuyu could only manage a shocked whisper, almost unnoticed in the echoes of the two Fusion Duelists. What little color his face possessed had left him. Even Shen, ever the implacable, unflappable force, had arched his brow so high that it was in danger of detaching from his skull.

Yaiba had perhaps the strongest-worded reply to this declaration. "You're _joking_!" he spluttered in Himika's direction. Masumi couldn't blame him at all; even she had not expected this turn of events.

Although, her mind reflected, that wasn't entirely true; while recovering in hospital from the fallout of the _Shaddoll_ incident, Himika had expressed her belief that the Fusion user was Lancer material, considering everything that had happened to her in the week since the Maiami Championship, the few days that had followed, and what Masumi had done to respond to it. Even before then, she'd remembered confiding to Yaiba the possibility that they, too, could be Lancers as well.

As a matter of fact, she thought, hadn't it been Yaiba himself who'd suggested the idea in the first place?

Of course, Masumi had not expected Himika to outright tell them out of the blue that she wanted to form a new group of Lancers, particularly not so soon. Judging by Yaiba's reaction, neither had he.

"Your purpose," Himika went on, ignoring the consternation that had ignited before her as though it hadn't even happened, "will differ from the Lance Defense Soldiers who follow Akaba Reiji through the other Dimensions. You will protect Maiami City from the influences of any Dimension that would seek to wreak havoc in ours. This way, our homeland will be safe on _both_ fronts. The five of you shall be the founding members of this organization, as will Shijima Hokuto—should he wish to do so, if and when his current … _predicament_ has been reversed."

She glanced at Masumi once, who'd felt her sudden confusion choked into submission by the unpleasant memory of what had happened to the former ace of LDS' Xyz circuit. She was not alone in her sudden shift in mood, either—most everyone else wore a pained expression, knowing full well that the card that contained Hokuto remained impregnable, despite the best efforts of the Leo Corporation. Fuyu looked the most stricken of the five; his friendship with Hokuto had been so deeply rooted that they'd often teamed up in Tag Duels or Battles Royale.

"For all intents and purposes," said Himika, "you will remain students at LDS, and will thus retain the lives you normally lead. You will go to school like regular children of your age, conduct Duels and attend Dueling tournaments like children your age—and if time permits you after that, you may lead the lives children your age often do. Should another incident like last month's occur, however, I want to know that I can count on you to resolve it at a moment's notice."

Masumi listened to this with an air of confusion. Slowly, it gave way to understanding—but then into even further confusion. By the sound of it, this Lancer group Himika was intent on creating operated very much like those super-secret spy organizations in the cartoons she'd watched on TV as a little kid—where for some reason, only that small band of kids could defeat world-class threats that smarter, more responsible, and better-equipped adults would surely stand a chance against as well.

With every word Himika spoke, the Fusion Duelist was beginning to find herself more and more in agreement with Yaiba. Regardless of how each of the five kids seated opposite her were performing as Duelists, their headmistress had every intention of making them hit the ground running. This wasn't some after-school club—this was _real_ , and would quite possibly involve some very dangerous work, if that _Shaddoll_ incident was any indication—and all five of them had been exceedingly lucky in escaping from that debacle with a _relative_ lack of injury, Masumi thought.

The Fusion Duelist was so deep in her thoughts that she didn't immediately notice that Himika had stopped talking. Instantly, she brought herself back to reality, noticing just in time the questioning look on the Chairwoman's face as she gazed at them all in turn, as if waiting for one of them to give an answer to her offer.

Masumi followed her gaze, glancing at each of her fellow students. Shen was as unreadable as ever—although she had no doubt the Synchro Duelist's mind was teeming with a thousand questions already.

The same went for Hotene—the face of her Junior circuit counterpart appeared to be torn between excitement and concern—a most unusual look for someone so hyperactive. Masumi thought she could guess why, too—no doubt the tiny Duelist enjoyed the exact same vein of "schoolgirl by day, superhero by night" kid shows she herself had once enjoyed. But Hotene, despite her impulsive behavior, was far from airheaded: even she, Masumi guessed, must be aware that she was nine years old, and therefore still quite a bit younger than a number of the teenage and tweenage heroes of those programs.

Fuyu and Yaiba each looked as apprehensive as the other. The frail Xyz user had freely admitted to Masumi that he was no Kurosaki Shun—that he didn't have the mentality to be a soldier. He did not seem overly bothered by it at the time, but now—faced with the prospect of being thrust into such a career—he appeared to be fighting the desire to run. Masumi suspected that only the hand on Fuyu's shoulder kept him from bolting out of his seat and out of Himika's office—but even its owner looked more than a little worried; Yaiba was clearly just as afraid as Masumi that they'd find themselves in a repeat of last month's affair.

Then, suddenly, Shen stepped forward. "I accept," he said, as plainly as if he'd asked for a glass of water.

And just like that, the tension bled out from the room. Shen, being the only one of the lot in Youth Division—where the rest of the five children except Hotene were all Junior Youth—was therefore the oldest, and so had a great deal more experience as a Duelist, and a student of LDS, than anyone else here. Even Masumi had learned a lot from him, in their first Duel together—and some of that knowledge, she believed, had saved all of their lives last month.

So she nodded. "I accept," Masumi echoed, swallowing a little to ease the knot in her throat.

Yaiba took a long look at Masumi, as if trying to summon one last-minute burst of courage. "Me too," he eventually said, nodding.

"Me three!" Hotene piped up, donning a toothy grin that nearly encircled her round face.

All eyes now turned to Fuyu. It was plain to see the Xyz Duelist knew he was outnumbered, but he still harbored doubts about what they were about to do. Then, Masumi saw him take a deep breath—and though he did not speak, Masumi saw his lips move in what she was sure went something along the lines of " … For Hokuto- _san_."

Then, he stood up. "All right," he rasped. "Count us in."

"Then welcome to LDS Investigation and Defense," said Himika, coming out at last from behind her desk, heading for the door of her office. "Please, come with me. There is one last member of the LID I would like you to meet."

Masumi tripped over herself in her haste to follow; Himika was taking two steps to her three. "You couldn't have him meet us here?" she wondered out loud.

"No—we will have to meet _it_ there," answered Himika, much to their confusion. "You'll see once we arrive."

* * *

They did not take the lift they'd arrived in; rather, they used a freight elevator, which was large enough for all six of them and then some, but slower and quite a bit noisier.

As the doors closed, Himika took out what appeared to be a metallic chunk of hexagonal crystal about the size of her thumb, sliding it halfway into a slot above the control panel for a few moments, then back out again.

"Call it a master key," she explained to the group, punching a button labeled SL3. Immediately, the lift lurched, and began to descend. "The computer reads a series of laser indentations carved into the metal; at the same time, sensors at the base read the biometrics of its holder. This key, for example, is coded to my fingerprint—and has been taught to recognize it as valid authorization to access the more _secure_ areas of LDS and its sister facilities—such as LeoCorp R &D. That way, even if this key is stolen, it is useless to anyone but the person it was made for."

"Awful lot of protection for a Duel School," remarked Yaiba.

Himika sniffed. "I don't think you understand just how _seriously_ we take the privacy of our organization," she said to the Synchro user. "After the _Shaddoll_ incident, we at LDS and LeoCorp alike realized that there were many gaping holes in our security network. In the week that followed, we've had to practically reconstruct that network from the ground up. We've also had to put most of our more clandestine divisions on closed channels, to prevent anyone from leaking any sensitive information, accidentally or otherwise."

"Like Research and Development," Masumi guessed. "That's why you're taking us down there with you—you're just as in the dark about this as we are."

Himika gave no sign of confirmation or denial to this. "Our R&D division is electronically sealed," she said. "Their security cameras operate on a closed circuit, as I have said. Furthermore, communication in or out of that division is impossible, except at specific checkpoints. Slower, admittedly, but safer—although we have to make a point to not disclose where those checkpoints are, lest someone from the outside take advantage of them."

Masumi thought she knew what Himika might be talking about. She'd been in class at the time, and so wasn't there to see it personally, but a self-proclaimed "journalist" from a nearby university had recently snuck into LeoCorp—and presumably into R&D—in an attempt to do an _exposé_ on the Lancers and how they could triumph over the threat of Academia. He'd promptly been kicked to the curb, his forged credentials in tatters around him. His college was then notified, and he'd been expelled soon after—his only alternative had been prosecution and incarceration for breaking into the most secure facilities in all of Maiami City, and maybe all of Japan.

There was still something that bothered her, though: while the Fusion Duelist understood the importance of secrecy—she'd had to keep a few secrets herself as recently as a month ago—Himika didn't strike her as the kind of person who liked to be left in the dark about any news that could disrupt the operation of her school or her company.

As the elevator descended further into the earth, and Masumi descended deeper into her own thoughts, Yaiba voiced a question. "Why 'Investigation and Defense', though—why the _LID_?" he wanted to know, a slight smile playing about his face. "Could you not think of another use for "LDS" besides _Lance Defense Soldiers_? Or do you just trust us to keep a _lid_ on things?"

The smile promptly slid off his face as Himika's gaze slowly turned his way.

"You jest," said the Chairwoman, "but every well-established organization, no matter how big or small, is not what their name simply _says_ they are. Academia is proof of this—though they sound at first glance as though they are just another Duel School, we now understand that in actuality, it is more akin to a branch of the military—a _fusion_ , if you will, between _Duel Monsters_ and soldiers."

Yaiba blinked at this, jaw hanging slack. Clearly he hadn't thought of this comparison—and neither had Masumi.

"The same is true of the Lancers," Himika continued, "and in a way, the _opposite_ as well. A _lancer_ can be taken to mean another term for soldier, after all—but surely you do not expect us to stoop to Academia's level and use children as soldiers, do you?"

Masumi was sorely tempted to remind Himika that _she_ was the one who'd erased their first memories of Kurosaki Shun—and Yaiba himself looked ready to do the same. Rumors also abounded throughout LDS about Himika's relationship with her son Reira; Masumi had not seen the boy's Duel against Hotene, in the quarterfinals of the Maiami Championship's Junior Division—but by all accounts, it had been a whitewash in his favor. To this day, whenever Masumi asked the tiny Duelist what had happened that day, and what Reira had been like to face as an opponent, Hotene would go uncharacteristically pale and start jabbering about her latest exploits in _Gravity Sixteen_.

Himika did not seem bothered by this, however, and continued on. "If all you're interested in the company you make for yourself is how good it sounds on paper," she said to Yaiba, "then it is doomed to fail. You are the Leo Duel School's Section of Investigation and Defense. That should be enough identification for anyone—and especially for you."

The lift doors opened at that point, which was a blessing for Yaiba; the Synchro Duelist looked rather shell-shocked at Himika's reply.

"She could've just said 'no'," he grumbled as they filed out of the freight elevator.

"In this day and age, I find it's important to _cite your sources_ ," replied Himika, "as every _good student_ should."

Her back was turned to Masumi, but the Fusion Duelist would not be surprised if the Chairwoman was smiling at these words.

* * *

They moved down a sterile-looking hallway that wouldn't have looked out of place at any hospital in the world. The only difference was that there were no windows, and no doors save for the one at the end of the hall, flanked by a pair of burly-looking guards in futuristic-looking helmets that hid their eyes. The twin tracks of fluorescent lights in the ceiling were the only source of illumination. All was quiet except for six pairs of footsteps—well, five pairs of footsteps and a sixth pair of skipping noises, courtesy of Hotene.

Shortly before they reached the door at the end, a screen of light flared in front of Himika. "Access denied," an electronic voice spoke from somewhere above them. "Pressure plate exceeds authorized weight."

Masumi automatically looked down at the floor. So there were pressure sensors under their feet, she realized; this way, LeoCorp could learn ahead of time who was coming, and how many people were with them. Dimly, she knew at a glance that Himika hadn't been joking about their security protocols; she couldn't imagine how something could get past this.

Immediately, she glanced at her Junior counterpart. "You'd better stay still," she said to Hotene, who'd gone back to bouncing on the balls of her feet. The tiny Duelist, to her surprise, desisted and went rigid.

"They're with me," Himika meanwhile said to the guards, fishing an identity tag out of her pocket and waving it at them. She raised her voice, apparently speaking to the computer: "Recalibrate sensors for positive verification of six individuals: one administrator and five students of the Leo Duel School, twelve-hour clearance with limited access, pending the outcome of incident file zero-four in Research and Development. Acknowledge prime-level authority."

A moment of silence. "Voiceprint and prime-level authority accepted. State your names for positive verification."

"Himika, Akaba," the headmistress of LDS responded almost immediately.

"Shen, Li," echoed Shen bare moments later. Getting the idea, the rest of the group soon followed suit.

"Masumi, Kōtsu."

"Hotene, Menoko!"

"Yaiba, Tōdō."

"F-Fuyu, Ro-Rokkaku."

There was a small buzzing noise. "Uncodable response registered," said the computer. "Please try again."

"You've got to speak clearly and speak up," said one of the guards to an abashed-looking Fuyu. "Audio sensors don't pick up anything below a certain amount of decibels. So try not to mumble."

The Xyz Duelist nodded, swallowed, and spoke up again. "Fuyu, Rokkaku!" he said in what sounded like a strangled sort of yell.

It was good enough for the computer, however. "Audio authorization encoded and verified," said the mechanical voice. "Pressure sensors recalibrated. Visitors, please be advised: your actions beyond this point will be monitored for security purposes."

"Why am I not shocked?" grunted Yaiba.

The door slid open with a hiss of air. "Welcome to Research and Development," Himika said with little fanfare, leading them through.

* * *

Masumi would find herself wishing she'd had about seven more pairs of eyes for the next few minutes; the longer she looked inside LeoCorp R&D, the more there was to see.

The entire space was a warehouse of biblical proportions, stacked to the brim with technology that she would have loved to get a closer look at if Himika hadn't been keeping them on such a short leash. Everything was laid out in neat little grids, making it look as though the entire division was a city unto itself. Workspaces were seen in the hollowed-out walls of the complex: a honeycomb of metal and glass, where workers flitted in and out of the cubical spaces periodically. It felt rather like being inside a high-tech beehive—although it was much quieter than Masumi had been expecting. Perhaps human beings made less noise as a group than bees did.

Or perhaps, she added as she noticed a few workers stop and stare at Himika and her entourage—perhaps they were much more worried of what their queen would say when she found out whatever might have happened here?

On the far side of the warehouse lay a series of gigantic doors, numbered from left to right. Himika was leading them towards the third one of these—and Masumi guessed right away that this was where it all started—whatever had happened in R&D to make the majority of Maiami City lose power had happened behind those walls.

The entire door had been cordoned off—and here, too, a guard had been posted either side, identical to the two they'd seen before. Not that they appeared necessary; Masumi noticed that people seemed to be giving the place a wide berth even before noticing the guards. It was almost as though they were _scared_ of the place.

The sentries stiffened at the sight of the LDS Chairwoman walking towards them. "Is the scene secure?" Himika asked them, a crisp, no-nonsense bite behind every word.

"Yes, ma'am," one of the guards said. "Shirai had someone clear a path for you. Other than that, everything's been left as is. We should warn you, ma'am," he added as Himika made as if to step past him, "the place is a mess. You'll want to watch your step in there."

"What about our guest?"

"Still inside," said the other guard. "Hasn't said anything since Nakajima came by for a report. Hasn't even _done_ anything since the incident happened, now I think of it—don't think I've seen any movement for about a half-hour."

Masumi did a double take. _Someone's still in there?!_ " _Who_ hasn't moved?" she wanted to know.

No one appeared to have heard her. "Open it up," Himika ordered, gesturing towards the door with a careless flick of her wrist. "We'd like to have a word."

The guards obeyed her without question—though not without difficulty; the door needed to be physically pushed open by both men. Whether this was because the door was that heavy—or if something was keeping them from pushing it more easily—Masumi could not yet say.

A few moments later, however, the guards stood aside, gesturing for Himika to go inside. The Chairwoman motioned to Masumi and the others, and together, all six of the Leo Duel School's Section of Investigation and Defense stepped inside.

One glance was all Masumi needed to feel her jaw drop in absolute shock. _What in the world happened in here?!_

* * *

The space beyond looked like it had been through hell. It was the length and breadth of an Olympic swimming pool—and the height of an apartment block—and it had been trashed almost beyond all hope of repair. Just about every loose bit of technology that had been inside the room at the time had been dislodged, damaged, or otherwise rendered out-of-order. Billions, if not trillions of _yen_ 's worth of equipment now littered the ground, collected rather hastily into haphazard jumbles of unsorted rubbish by maintenance crews who were either unable or unwilling to wait for their Chairwoman to survey the carnage personally.

The pathways that wound in between these piles were just wide enough for one person to traverse, and so it was that Himika led Masumi and the others single file through the ransacked room. Here, Masumi gasped—for the state of the floor was the least of the testing bay's problems. She stared, appalled, at the manhole-sized burns on every surface of the chamber, and at the great rips in the metal floor and the half-meter-thick wall—longer than a man was tall, half as deep, and almost as high and wide—exposing yet more of the testing bay's technological innards.

It reminded Masumi of the overpass she'd walked under before the start of the Maiami Championship—the terror she'd felt at seeing claw marks in solid concrete—left by a Duel Monster, no less, which was a scary thought in and of itself; what kind of technology, after all, had had the power to make the Solid Vision of Duel Monsters _real?!_

Of course, Masumi knew the answer to that now. But what she was seeing was on a much bigger scale than she could ever have imagined; no Duel Monster she knew of was capable of causing this much destruction—at least, not with such bestial _savagery_.

Yaiba had noticed her sudden unease. "We're both thinking the same thing, aren't we?" he asked her, his voice low.

Masumi nodded. "Kurosaki," she whispered. She'd seen what that Duelist's mechanical birds could do—as both friend and foe. "But I don't think any of his _Raid Raptors_ could have done _this_. Besides, we all know he's in Synchro right now, with the rest of the Lancers—and we'd know if he'd come back to Maiami City, right?"

She directed her question at Himika, who nodded after a brief pause. "Quite right," she said. "While Kurosaki Shun is an asset in our mind, he has been through too much to readily accept his fellow Duelists as 'friends'. I suspect he will need to be monitored for a while longer before I am convinced he will not go rogue."

No one spoke for a little while longer as they navigated the paths. Eventually, they came across a particularly ravaged partition. Behind it appeared to be the combination of a workstation and a nest; at least three different monitors were arranged over a dozen pillows that served as a makeshift bed. A small refrigerator completed the furnishings; it had been upended in the chaos, and what little food was inside had now spilled onto the floor.

"That's … not normal, is it?" Fuyu asked, grimacing at the sight.

"More than you might think," said Himika. "It's not uncommon for most of our staff to burn the midnight oil while they're working on a project. Some go for days without sleep or proper nutrition. But you have a point," she added thoughtfully. "The unfortunate tenant who was here last intended to be here for quite a while. Ah—here we are."

They'd just turned onto a wider path that led down the middle of the testing bay. Directly in their path was possibly the only piece of technology that had escaped the fate of whatever had happened here: a rectangle of what looked like solid black glass—almost twice as tall as Masumi, at least three times as wide, and a full foot thick. It definitely looked solid enough to have survived the damage inflicted on the rest of the testing bay.

The only question was: how had it survived it at all?

Himika strode up to the monolith. It was only then, when she followed her for a closer look, that Masumi noticed it was made of more than just darkened glass. Almost every inch of the construction's innards was teeming with circuits, processors, and hard drives.

Then Himika spoke up, loud enough that her voice echoed in the testing bay—even with the piles of ruined technology littering the chamber. "This is project one-six-one-zero-two-one-seven," she said importantly, as if showing the monolith off to a crowd at some technology convention. "To the Leo Corporation, it is a Dueling supercomputer unlike any ever made—on the market or _off_ it, in _any_ Dimension known to exist."

She smiled thinly. "To _you_ , however … it is the newest member of the LID—your partner, if you will."

Masumi's mouth fell open—and she was certain everyone else with her had followed suit soon after. _A Dueling supercomputer—_ and _a member of the LID?!_

Himika's smile only widened at her consternation. "You may call it Q," she said.

On the last word, the "Dueling supercomputer" next to her suddenly hummed to life, its millions of circuits glowing a faintly iridescent yellow-green. Within the center of its rectangular body was an ovular shape some two feet wide, pointed at either end, which glowed brighter than any of the other components of the silicon monolith.

Then, all five of the LID nearly jumped out of their skin as "Q" began to speak. "Good day, Himika _-san_ ," a cool, androgynous voice emitted from a speaker that might have been anywhere in the room "and to your guests as well."

It was unlike any other voice Masumi had ever heard—not least because it sounded like _every_ voice she'd ever heard before. If the Fusion user closed her eyes, she could imagine hearing almost any one person she cared to bring to mind: her mother and father, her twenty-something math teacher—or Marco, her favorite professor at LDS, who she knew to be sealed into a card by Kurosaki. And the clarity of the voice was impeccable—so crisp and precise was every word spoken that if she closed her eyes, Q sounded like the voice of some omnipresent deity, speaking from every direction at once.

"Reiji first conceived of Q several months before Pendulum Summoning was first discovered," Himika explained to them in the meantime. "Initially, he intended to use it as a test for prospective Duelists looking to enter LDS and its exchange branches. However, after Sakaki Yūya's match against Strong Ishijima—in which Pendulum Summoning was first documented—those plans were tabled in favor of recreating this unprecedented game mechanic.

"Once Reiji had researched the subject as thoroughly as only he could, he began to design cards capable of Pendulum Summoning. Q's primary Deck contains many of the first Pendulum Monsters Reiji created." She stroked a thin hand along the edge of Q's chassis. "All of them are prototypes like Q—none have been put into production on any level whatsoever. Its Deck is truly unique."

"I thought those _Different Dimension Demons_ of his were Reiji's first Pendulum Monsters," Yaiba said, looking completely lost.

"That you knew of at the time," was all the reply Himika gave him.

Masumi swallowed. Already this Q was turning out to be far beyond what she'd been expecting. If she was correct, then this was the source of all this chaos and destruction—but how?!

She decided to keep things civil—there was no use in accusing a machine of a crime. "So, Q—you know how to Pendulum Summon, too, then?" she asked him—was _Q a him?_ she wondered apropos of nothing; _could computers have an assigned gender?_ "Just like Sawatari, Reiji, and Yūya?"

"Correct," said Q, with a faint note of pride—or was that simply Masumi's imagination? "Reiji- _sama_ tested my Dueling capabilities against the staff of your Duel School and certain members of the Leo Corporation. I currently hold a ninety-one percent win rate, with an average Duel length of three-point-six-two-five turns."

Yaiba gave a low whistle. "No wonder you're still a prototype," he muttered. " _No one_ would get into LDS if they had to Duel anyone with a record like that."

"Q is no longer in the prototype stage," Himika corrected him. "We began shipping mass-production units of its mainframe two days ago. Of course, that is no longer the case."

Shen arched his eyebrows less than a millimeter. "So this … _Q_ … was being tested when this incident happened?"

"Yes," nodded Himika. "More importantly, it is interfaced with the room in which we are currently standing—meaning it is perfectly placed to show us what happened in this room earlier today. Because no other persons were in this testing bay when the incident took place, Q is essentially our only witness of the events that took place here. That is why I intended to recruit it to the LID—to uncover whatever information its memory banks may possess, and determine what happened inside this testing bay, and who is responsible."

Masumi found her legs were wobbling from the weight of what she was hearing—she needed to sit down for a moment so as to process what she was hearing.

"Q, bring up the surveillance grid and begin playback at 1520 hours," Himika dictated in the meantime, before suddenly spinning around on her heel. Turning, Masumi saw that a bald man in a lab coat and a rather impressive mustache had appeared behind them. The look on his face suggested one of extreme uneasiness.

He had to stand on tiptoe to whisper into the Chairwoman's ear. Masumi thought she caught something like " … Nakajima … see you … "—but before she could inquire further, Himika suddenly strode away from them.

"Excuse me," she said hurriedly, slamming the door of the testing bay behind them without further ado.

Frowning, Masumi turned back from the sight and towards Q. One moment later, she felt her jaw go slack at what she was seeing. Q's body seemed to have turned into a massive holographic television screen, albeit flipped on its side—and was currently playing what appeared to be footage from a closed-circuit security feed, telemetry and all.

The Fusion Duelist's eyes roved over the screen, noticing the date and time (currently 15:20:38 today, some forty minutes ago). The footage beyond looked as though it had taken place within this very room, as Himika had said. There were two men inside, both engaged in the middle of a Duel—although one of them appeared to be winning quite handily. There was no sound—either the audio had not yet been recovered, or was too damaged to recover.

She stared at the nearer of the Duelists. He was fair-skinned, though already showing signs of balding despite his young age. Masumi thought he might be of European descent—a _gaijin_ , she thought: _probably some intern hoping to pad their resume_. The other man, meanwhile—

Masumi shut her eyes, squeezing them shut and rubbing at them with her fists to make sure she'd seen what she thought she just had. Sure enough, when she opened them, the other Duelist was—

"—the same?!" Yaiba said incredulously. "They're exactly the same! What's going on here?"

"They are not entirely the same," Q corrected him. "Please, observe."

The circuits within the pointed oval shape inside the supercomputer's chassis began to glow brighter than before, allowing Masumi to see what looked like two gems, one at either end. Both were cut in what she recognized from the display cases in her father's jewelry shop as the _kite brilliant_ style, and looked precisely identical save for their color—one was a vivid ruby hue; the other, a bright sapphire.

As a mesmerized Masumi watched, these too began to glow, and now emitted a number of red and blue lights that intercrossed with one another. There was a brief flash of light that briefly blinded the Fusion user; she opened her eyes a moment later—

—and felt her jaw drop yet again as she saw _herself_ —only it wasn't _really_ herself. The Kōtsu Masumi that had just now appeared within the lights looked a few years older—college-age, definitely; possibly older—and was clad in clothes no jewelry shop owner could possibly afford. The black Yamamoto dress—easily a hundred thousand _yen_ by itself—looked tailor-made for her body shape; the shoes that came with the outfit looked even more expensive. It looked like she was dressed for a classical concert or the front row of a red carpet than anything.

Even as Masumi marveled at the holo-Masumi, her digital representation was beginning to speak. "My software," said Q, in a perfect representation of the Fusion user's own voice, "allows me to remotely interface with any Real Solid Vision generator in the vicinity—"

Without warning, the hologram flashed again. A moment later, it was Yaiba's turn to splutter in utter surprise. Masumi couldn't blame him; she'd never believed the Synchro Duelist the type to dress up in a full-fledged business suit—but there he was, looking like he was about to present to a board of directors. This hologram, too, looked older, and more mature—more _idealized_ , Masumi was beginning to think.

"—and map three-dimensional objects in real-time, up to and including human beings," said the Yaiba-hologram, without even missing a beat. There was another _flash_ —and Masumi couldn't help but do a double take at the sight of Hotene in such an expensive, formal dress.

"According to Reiji- _sama_ , this will allow the image you see before you"— _flash_ —"to freely participate in Action Duels," said Q in Hotene's shrill, singsong voice, and then Shen's soon after, having switched into a tuxedo that looked thoroughly out of place on the Synchro user—"and, in theory—"

— _flash_ —

"—to learn and imitate the Dueling style of virtually every Duel School in existence today," said the newly created hologram of Rokkaku Fuyu. The Xyz user's single visible eye was wide as a coin at the sight of his digital _doppelgänger_.

 _Flash_.

All the air suddenly went out of the room as Q's hologram changed yet again. Masumi was glad she'd been sitting down already; otherwise, she might well have fainted at the sight that had greeted her.

"In essence," finished the hologram of Shijima Hokuto—his charcoal-gray three-piece suit clashing horribly with his purple hair and star-studded headpiece, "I have been designed to be the _ultimate opponent_ for any Duelist seeking to become a part of the Leo Duel School, and its branches around the world."

There was a moment of silence as the hologram faded from view, showing the ongoing Duel between the unknown programmer and what Masumi now knew to be Q.

"So—you can take on the appearance of your opponent, then?" Yaiba finally asked, sounding a little punch-drunk. "Look like them, talk like them—even _behave_ like them?"

"Correct."

Yaiba grunted, and sat down alongside Masumi. "Well—that's not scary at all," he muttered sarcastically.

Masumi knew what he was saying. Whether Q's programmers had intended it or not, they'd given Q an intensely effective psychological weapon. The notion of fighting a foe based largely on who you were, whether it was an alternate version of you, a so-called "evil twin", or—as Q seemed to have created with each of them—an idealized, _perfected_ appearance, in which everything about them had been constructed to fit some form of acceptable social norm, was a very old concept indeed.

In fact, Masumi was no stranger to facing such a foe herself; she'd had to do exactly that with a recurring nightmare just last month—or so it had appeared at first glance. The enemy that had taken root inside her mind had known her strategies and cards almost as well as she did—if not _better_ —and won Duel after Duel against her with ease. Finally overpowering that nightmare had taken extraordinary effort—yet Q was able to replicate its results almost instantly, just has he had done with—

The Fusion Duelist gulped as Hokuto's face surfaced in her mind once more. This supercomputer was perhaps the _scariest_ thing she'd known LDS was capable of producing—and that was counting all the other trinkets and devices she'd seen before.

Suddenly, her attention was drawn to a sudden flash of light on Q's body—in her thoughts, she'd completely forgotten why she'd sat down to watch the supercomputer in the first place. A quick look at the telemetry showed 15:21:50—only less than a minute had passed in real-time.

The sudden glow, she noticed, was coming from two beams of light shining from somewhere beyond Q's hologram. These she recognized immediately as the Scales of a Pendulum Summon—she'd seen enough Duels to know how the method was reproduced in Solid Vision. She could not recognize the monsters Q had placed in his Pendulum Scales—one was a vast rectangular slab the size of an office building; the other a relatively smaller device that looked rather like a cross between a trilobite and a cockroach as long as a bus—nor could she determine what their names might be, only that their Scales appeared to be between 1 and 9.

What Masumi _could_ see, however, was that the technician Q had been Dueling was clearly not expecting this to happen at all; the moment the Pendulum Scales had been placed, he was slowly backing away from the Duel—and then, quite suddenly, he'd made for a nearby computer and began frantically pounding at the keys as if his life was depending on it.

"Maybe Q had a glitch?" Yaiba offered in an aside to Masumi.

"I'd like to know what kind of glitch could do _this_ kind of damage," Masumi whispered back, gesturing to the massive damage throughout the testing bay.

"What the—?!"

Yaiba had suddenly whirled upon Q's screen. An instant later, Masumi knew why: at exactly 15:22:00, both Scales had converged on one another, the smaller monster appearing to "dock" with the other in a small recess centered inside the larger monster. This had caused the latter machine to erupt in a blinding light, giving off what looked like a whole thunderstorm's worth of electricity in the process. Several of the arcs lanced into the walls, hard enough to leave smoking craters behind—exactly the same craters Masumi had seen earlier, in exactly the same places.

And that wasn't all.

"What in the world is _that_?!" Fuyu rasped, pointing a pale finger at the screen.

Masumi felt her stomach contract as a _huge_ mechanical hand appeared on the screen, reaching out of the conjoined Pendulum Scales as though they'd formed some kind of portal to another world. It swiped this way and that, its sickle-shaped claws—each capable of crushing a car—tearing the same long gashes in the testing bay, smashing everything in its path.

Masumi could barely speak for lack of breath. "Is that … is that supposed to be a _Duel Monster_?!"

The hand abruptly pulled back—and Hotene screamed, immediately clinging to Masumi's stomach. The Fusion user couldn't blame her: the head that had suddenly _lunged_ out of the portal would haunt her dreams for days. Half bird, half horned demon—and all machine—the monstrous creation opened its mouth in what Masumi imagined was a frightening roar indeed; even in the total silence of the footage Q was showing them, she could see glass shattering by the pure force of the deafening sound.

The head dipped forward at that point, darting out of the camera's field of view for an instant—and when it came back, Masumi saw the programmer from before, clawing at the floor.

 _And trapped inside the monster's beak_.

She watched, utterly horrified, as the mechanical demon retreated towards the portal, dragging the helpless worker with it. The young man, trapped from the waist down, was thrashing and clawing about, trying his damnedest to work his way out of the monster's metal jaws, and screaming all the while. But there was nothing he could do—he had nothing to hold on to, nothing to slow him down—

The monster lashed out once more with a backhand from its clawed fist, electricity sizzling over its body from the bright yellow, man-sized orb in its chest. The force of the impact shook the entire room, and everything inside was destroyed from the single blow—shelves of hardware were toppled, entire sensor banks were smashed, metal panels inches thick crumpled like foil. Scarcely had the carnage been wrought before the monster finally disappeared inside the portal created by Q's monsters—

— _and the programmer with it_ , Masumi realized in horror.

The metal menace disappeared with a final flash—and then, a moment later, a burst of electricity that blinded them all. This must have been what knocked out the power throughout Maiami City, Masumi guessed: the camera feed had cut to static the moment after she'd opened her eyes.

No one spoke for what felt like hours. Masumi could feel her body shaking with terror; she was beginning to feel short of breath. _It's just like that overpass all over again_ , she was thinking to herself; _monsters that can do real damage and hurt real people too people that have friends and **family** and **children** and—_

She gasped—a hand had suddenly appeared on her shoulder, grasping it so tightly she was beginning to feel a twinge.

"You okay?" Yaiba asked. His voice was gentle, soothing—quite at odds with his normally abrasive attitude, but Masumi knew the Synchro Duelist well enough to know that this was merely a façade for her friend.

She nodded, taking a deep breath before standing up. "I'm fine," she lied—and she knew Yaiba knew it was a lie; no one could see that kind of footage and ever pretend they were "fine".

It took about a minute for the static on Q's holo-screen to fade away, revealing the trashed testing bay that they were standing in this very moment. The telemetry now read 15:25:22. Sparks were flying everywhere, and not a single inch of the floor had been left uncovered by the debris. Masumi grimaced at this—the cleaning crews must have been working overtime to have these paths cleared out for them in less than an hour.

"Overlay start time and total time elapsed until this point."

Masumi, Yaiba, Hotene, Shen and Fuyu all jumped. None of them had heard Himika reenter the testing bay—but here she was, standing right behind them. The chairwoman, Masumi immediately saw, looked a faint shade paler than she usually did. She'd seen everything, then, the Fusion user knew.

Q, meanwhile, had processed Himika's request, and had two separate times displayed on the black glass of its chassis. One read 15:22:00; the other, 15:25:22—and Q had also included the frames of the footage that had occurred at those exact moments as well; Masumi recognized the flashpoint of the portal that the Scales had created, as well as the first image of the aftermath.

"As you can see," vocalized the supercomputer in its original, genderless voice, "the anomaly occurred at precisely 3:22 this afternoon, and ended approximately twenty-two seconds past 3:25 P.M. Thus, the power outage that resulted from this anomaly lasted an elapsed time of three minutes and twenty-two seconds."

Fuyu drew back. "Three twenty-two?"

Masumi, too, had felt a twinge of dread. Three minutes, twenty-two seconds—three twenty-two P.M.—

"What's that old saying?" she said to Yaiba. "Once is happenstance, twice is coincidence—?"

"If this is coincidence," Yaiba said, looking apprehensive, "then I'm quitting _Duel Monsters_ forever."

Shen nodded, his impassive face stony. "Someone did this deliberately," he said, speaking up for the first time since arriving in the testing bay.

Masumi recalled her earlier conversation with Himika in her office. _You sound like you already know who did it …_

 _I know_ what _did it … I do not, however, know_ who _is responsible, or_ how _…_

"But who could do that, though?" Fuyu wanted to know, his wan face white as a sheet. " _What_ could do that?"

Himika was silent for a moment. "Can you identify the casualty, Q?" she finally asked.

"Affirmative," the supercomputer responded, activating its holo-projectors a second time.

Moments later, a larger, three-dimensional version of the man Masumi had seen on the security footage earlier had shimmered into being, slowly rotating before the group. Even through his pristine white lab coat, he looked lanky and hunched, as though he'd spent half his life behind a computer screen; the bad posture made Masumi flinch in discomfort. The man's hair looked little better; wispy and light brown, not only was the man indeed balding despite looking a lot younger than Himika, he'd attempted to disguise his thin spots by combing out his hair in one of the outlandish hairstyles that the youth of the city were known to favor.

He'd attempted to combine his attempt to look cool with his attempt to look hale and hearty—and failed quite distinctly. _Definitely_ gaijin, Masumi thought as she stared into the hologram's brown eyes.

"Jonathan Damon 'J.D.' Crowley," dictated Q. "Level four programmer, age twenty-four—originally an American, currently holds dual citizenship in the United States and Japan. Born in San Francisco, California; Rhodes Scholar; graduated _magna cum laude_ with a bachelor's degree in computer science from the University of California, Berkeley. Six months later, accepted internship to the Leo Corporation's Research and Development Division. Currently enrolled in the University of Tokyo Graduate School of Information Science and Technology—"

"That will do," said Himika quite abruptly, and Q fell silent. "While Q was filling you in, my associate Nakajima confirmed to me that J.D. Crowley was one of the programmers behind its construction. According to the witnesses he's questioned, he was performing some quality control tests on the prototype at the time he was … _taken_."

"By a Duel Monster?" asked Hotene, her round eyes fearful.

"We will know soon enough," Himika said grimly. "Q, access the _Duel Monsters_ database, version 3.35. Search all images and cross-reference with all security footage displaying the intruder."

"Voice patterns registered to Himika, Akaba," responded Q. "Authorized search commencing."

There followed a brief moment where the supercomputer's innards seemed to glimmer a little more brightly than normal. Finally, Q spoke again. "Search complete," said its androgynous voice. "No matches found. The physical characteristics of the intruder do not correspond to any known card designs—monsters, Spells, or Traps."

Masumi shook her head. "I've heard that before," she said, thinking back to her previous experience in the _Shaddoll_ incident—she hadn't been able to look up _those_ cards, either, and that had been for a very good reason. "That could still be a Duel Monster—it just isn't in the database yet."

"Except Q would know if that was the case," said Himika, who appeared to have been reading Masumi's mind. "It has constant access to every database we have—including the ones we don't let out to the general public. The database it just accessed is the most up-to-date one we have at LDS—it went online five days ago." _Well before the_ Shaddoll _incident_ , went the unspoken addendum, in a sideways look at Masumi.

"Even if it was a Duel Monster," Yaiba said, shaking his head in an attempt to make heads from tails, "how did a _hologram_ take this Crowley guy? Better yet, where'd it even take him? Even Real Solid Vision has its limits."

He stepped toward the supercomputer. "Q—you mentioned that you can 'remotely interface' with an RSV generator. How far away can you be to pull that off?"

"My current maximum efficient distance is approximately fifteen meters," answered Q. "Upgrades to my mobility and portability were in progress at the time of the incident; however, they were not necessary to my function at the time, and thus had less manpower devoted to them than in other areas of my construction."

"And was this Crowley guy in charge of any of these areas?" Masumi asked. If this was really foul play, as Himika and everyone else was now assuming, the only reason Crowley would have been kidnapped is if he had some standing within the LDS power structure. Masumi had no idea how high a level-four programmer was on the Leo Corporation's food chain, but if people had been trusting him enough to be alone in a place like this—and for such long periods of time, she thought, thinking to the makeshift living space she'd seen crammed into that recess—then he was obviously well-thought of enough that none of the management gave his work much of a second glance.

Any answers, unfortunately, were not so forthcoming. "Negative," Q answered her. "He did not participate in any supervisory capacity whatsoever."

Masumi sighed, cursing under her breath. "So why was he taken?" she wondered out loud. It was a puzzle, she admitted grimly—a puzzle of an incomplete picture, where only a small fraction of the pieces had even been discovered, let alone assembled.

In the meantime, Himika was talking with the mustachioed manager who'd popped in earlier. "How far along are you on those upgrades, Shirai?" Masumi heard her say to him.

"We're still trying to find out how to incorporate an RSV generator in an easily portable space," said Shirai, "to say nothing of a power source. Miniaturizing technology of this scale and complexity is no easy task," he added, sweeping a hand in Q's direction.

Himika considered this. "Put every available person you can spare on the project," she said. "I want a full dozen working prototypes on my desk by this time tomorrow. I'll also be sending Nakajima down here later today. You'll be reporting your progress to him until further notice.

Shirai swallowed, clearly pale in the face at what sounded like a lot of work—but evidently, he seemed to know as well as Masumi that Himika was not one to be argued with … especially not in circumstances this dire.

"Yes, ma'am," he said stiffly. "We'll do what we can." And he walked off, closing the door behind him.

"As for the rest of you," said Himika, turning round to Masumi and the others, "I think that will be all for now. I will have to make a call to Tōkyō later today—I have little doubt the Americans will be pressuring us for an inquiry into the disappearance of one of their nationals on Japanese soil."

Masumi sucked in air through her teeth. "You're getting the _government_ involved in this?" she asked, surprised.

"Welcome to my world," Himika said dryly. "Despite what many people might believe, _Duel Monsters_ is not the be-all, end-all of our society. I suppose it would make a lot of our jobs easier if it was."

"Academia seems to believe the same thing," Masumi said, hands on hips. She and Himika both knew well that the foreign institution devoted itself to training soldiers who used _Duel Monsters_ as a weapon of war. It seemed a silly venture at first—but Masumi had seen enough Duels (and battled in them, in some cases) to know that turning a game into a deadly weapon was far from difficult in the wrong hands.

Himika, it seemed, knew this as well. She'd gone silent at Masumi's words—almost too silent, the Fusion user thought. For a moment, she'd wondered if she'd overstepped some invisible line.

But only a second later, Himika had turned back towards them. "Perhaps you could familiarize yourselves with Q a while longer before you head home?" she offered. "A Duel or two may help you better understand how it operates. I'm given to understand you utilized the same approach during the _Shaddoll_ incident, correct?" she asked Masumi.

Before the Fusion Duelist could respond, Q had already begun to speak. "That will not be necessary, Himika- _san_. Their decks and strategies have already been extrapolated from the database and uploaded to my memory banks. I will run simulations using every possible combination of their decks and mine."

"Are you sure that's a good idea after what just happened here?" Masumi inquired, a worried expression creasing her brow as she put the question to the LDS Chairwoman. "Ma'am, I don't think Q ought to risk something like this"—she gestured around the ransacked testing bay—"happening again. He was in the middle of a Duel when that monster appeared in the first place—who's to say that that won't happen again if he's involved in another Duel?"

"Do not jump to conclusions, Masumi." Himika's voice had suddenly grown very cold. "I would hardly think that a machine that my own son conceived would _knowingly_ try to harm the personnel who constructed it."

Masumi stepped back, abashed. "But—"

"You will Duel Q, Masumi," said Himika in a very final sort of tone; the Fusion user instinctively knew that further argument would be impossible if she wanted to remain in her headmistress' good graces.

"There need only be one Duel, however," Himika went on, holding up her hands in a surprisingly defensive gesture. "Your friends will be safe alongside me. And I will also be keeping a _very_ watchful eye on the Solid Vision systems inside R &D. Should I deem it necessary, I will cancel the Duel and pull the plug at the first sign of trouble."

That, if nothing else, was somewhat reassuring for Masumi; at least everyone else would be well removed from Q if and when something might go wrong.

One other question bothered her, however. "And what if you don't pull the plug fast enough?" she asked. "A computer thinks a lot faster than a human being, you know.

Himika had already reached the door. "Then I suppose you'll just have to _act_ faster," she said, smirking slightly as she led the others out of the testing bay and back into R&D. "Like it or not, Masumi, this is your job now—to _investigate_ potential threats to LDS … and _defend_ against them at all costs."

And she closed the door behind her, leaving the Fusion Duelist alone with the supercomputer behind her, its glossy black chassis already humming to life as Q prepared for the imminent Duel.

A Duel that, quite possibly, Masumi reminded herself, might be the last Duel of her life if something went wrong …

* * *

 **A/N: Whoops, um … I didn't think I'd spend that much time and content on buildup before writing the Duel itself. At least this means I've got a fair portion of the next chapter planned—and it'll be interesting to see how the chapter after this one shakes up.**

 **Q, of course, first appeared in my three-shot** ** _Q, Q, Q!_** **, as did his Deck—well, insofar as a supercomputer can be considered a 'him', at any rate. He's another character I'm looking forward to fleshing out as the story goes on; I will say I plan on giving him more depth here than I did back then.**

 **I'll be in hospital on and off for the next few months doing a medical study, so finding opportunities to write more within that time may be a challenge. Even so, it feels good to be writing at all again. Thanks for reading! – K**


	4. IV

IV

Masumi had just enough time to secure her dark blue Duel Disk to her wrist before the hum coming from Q's mainframe began to spread out through the whole of testing bay three. The holographic generators of the machine were already activating, forming the idealized _doppelgänger_ that the Fusion Duelist had seen earlier—pearl earrings, Yamamoto dress and all.

Another Duel Disk—a silver device similar to her own with dark green trim—now shimmered along Q-Masumi's right arm. This was a surprise to Masumi as well; she'd not seen many _left_ -handed Duelists in her time at the Leo Duel School. That this one looked just like her was more than a little creepy; the Fusion user was starting to get the impression she was about to Duel a mirror image of herself—an evil twin, even.

The surfaces of testing bay three—from the floor to the ceiling, and all four walls in between—began to light up at that moment, hidden circuitry shining with the entire visible spectrum of colors, growing brighter and brighter—

"Active Solid Vision environment detected," Q-Masumi said at that moment. "Compensating. System interface in five seconds."

Masumi was again taken aback at how identical the voice sounded to her own. It was perfectly replicated in every way but tone—no machine, regardless of how advanced it might be, could ever sound as natural as a human being.

Now the room around them was changing, shifting with barely a murmur into what appeared to be a vast open plain. Tall grass crunched underfoot, and winds whispered in the distant trees, though Masumi felt no gusts on her skin. The great rips and tears in the high-tech panels that had been created by J.D. Crowley's unknown abductor lingered still; evidently there was no way for Q's Real Solid Vision capabilities to digitally edit out such damage, as more dedicated RSV systems might be.

"Interface complete," finished Q-Masumi, with a trace of smugness. "All systems nominal."

"We're giving you just a basic environment," Himika's voice rang out at that moment. She sounded like the voice of some invisible god; Masumi saw no sign of where she might be. Nor was she expecting to find one—all odds were that she and the others were very far removed from any sign of trouble.

"The damage sustained in the testing bay didn't get to the generators themselves," the LDS Chairwoman was saying, "but the extent is such that we don't want to risk an overload by putting in anything more graphically taxing to the system. So this won't be an Action Duel."

That was fine with Masumi; the plain around her had concealed any sign of all the debris piles in the testing bay. Moving around too much would run the risk of tripping on something and injuring herself. So she gave a thumbs-up in no particular direction, assuming Himika (wherever she was) would take that as assurance she was okay with this.

 _Nothing to worry about_ , she thought sarcastically. _I'm only about to Duel a machine that may or may not have Summoned a monster that took an innocent man to another dimension. No pressure_.

She took a few deep breaths—and then clenched her fist. Immediately, biometric sensors in her Duel Disk registered the action; an instant later, a fiery orange chevron had lanced outward along Masumi's arm. The solid Vision blade of her Duel Disk hummed with a familiar noise that set the Fusion user's spirits at ease; in some way, that sound was more welcome to her than any words of encouragement Himika could give her.

She was about to draw her cards when a chance glimpse in front of her revealed that Q-Masumi had remained standing where she was. She'd taken no action to mirror Masumi's own other than extending a hand.

"I believe it is common courtesy for Duelists to _shake hands_ before beginning a Duel?" the supercomputer asked, again in Masumi's own voice. It was hard not to hear a slightly accusing tone in the synthesized words.

Masumi in particular had bristled at the question. She'd not seen very many people do that before the start of a Duel—unless it was at one of those old-school tournaments that card shops might often hold as a classic throwback to the first days of _Duel Monsters_ , when the game was played on a table instead of the Solid Vision Masumi had grown accustomed to over the years.

Idly, she wondered if this was another psychological tactic that the Leo Corporation had programmed into Q, to wrong-foot its opponents and defeat them before they'd had a chance to recover. Certainly Himika couldn't have been expecting the LID to shake hands with potential threats to LDS, could she?

 _Just do it_ , a voice said in the back of her head. _Just get it over with—it's only a formality, nothing more_.

Eventually, the Fusion user shrugged, stepped forward, and extended her hand—which was promptly enveloped in Q-Masumi's own Solid Vision palm. It was a curious sensation indeed: the warm glow of the hard-light particles that made up the hologram felt rather like a warm summer's day against Masumi's skin. At the same time, though, she could feel the slight _pulsing_ beneath the layers of photons—it genuinely did feel as though she was grasping a real hand.

It was a few moments before the meaning behind this simple action made itself clear to her: such was Q's mastery over Solid Vision, apparently, that the supercomputer's own software could even simulate a human body's very own biometrics—the ridges and valleys that defined a person's fingerprints; the rods and cones within the iris of their eye … and in this case, the rhythms of a pumping heart, constantly circulating blood throughout the human body.

 _I had no idea Real Solid Vision could be this advanced!_ Masumi thought incredulously as her digital _doppelgänger_ released her hand, stepping back with a vague smile. Up until now, she'd always believed holograms to be mere shells of the person they were attempting to emulate. But the software that LeoCorp had installed into Q was on a whole other level from any other holographic technology she'd ever encountered before. Holograms that could simulate life and learn from experience …

This was _artificial intelligence_ , she realized; Akaba Reiji had been teaching a computer to Duel just like a student of his Duel School. And from what Masumi had seen and heard so far, he appeared to have succeeded.

More of Himika's words floated into her mind: _… the prototype for a product we recently began shipping to Duel Schools around the world …_ The Fusion user couldn't help but shudder at the implications; the notion that a whole host of AIs could soon determine who could enter into the many subsidiary branches of LDS was unnerving to her.

She shook her head, trying to clear her mind of the staggering deluge of information that Q-Masumi's simple offer to shake hands had caused. There was a Duel to concentrate on—and Masumi hoped it wouldn't be her last.

Q-Masumi, meanwhile, had activated her own Duel Disk; a golden blade now shimmered along her right arm, which the hologram now hefted in a quick motion not unlike a fencing salute. " _Duel_."

There was an all-too-brief moment of silence—and then, as the screens of both Duel Disks flickered to show the telemetry of the Duel to come—field presence, Life Points (currently set to 4000) and other such information—both human and hologram acted.

"I'll go first!" Masumi cried, spreading out her legs in a battle stance as she drew her five cards—Q-Masumi mimicking her movements with perfect precision. The Fusion Duelist spared a moment—only one—to look at the cards in her hand … and grinned.

"All right—I'll start off by Summoning _Gem-Knight Alexand_ in Attack Position!" Masumi began, placing a monster on her blade. Moments later, a silver-armored figure had appeared before her, crouching down in a battle stance similar to her own (Level 4: _ATK 1800_ /DEF 1200).

"Then," added Masumi, "I'll activate _Alexand's_ effect—and Release it to Special Summon a _Gem-Knight_ Normal Monster from my Deck! I choose to Summon _Gem-Knight Crysta_ in Attack Position!"

 _Alexand_ glowed from within for a brief moment, before its armored body vaporized into a million holographic fragments. In its place rose an even larger figure, the jagged crystals on its shoulders glinting with the artificial sunlight of the Solid Vision field (Level 7: _ATK 2450_ /DEF 1950).

"Now, I'll activate the Spell Card: _Gem-Knight Fusion_!" Masumi went on. "With this, I can fuse _Gem-Knight_ monsters from my hand or my field for a Fusion Summon! I choose to fuse the _Crysta_ on my field with the _Gem-Knight Obsidia_ and the _Gem-Knight Roumaline_ in my hand!"

 _Crysta_ rose up into the air as if borne by invisible strings. A pair of smaller _Gem-Knights_ floated up alongside: one, a black-armored humanoid wearing a gigantic necklace—each individual ebon bead the size of a football—; the other, a warrior clad in electric yellow, surging with voltage. All three monsters now disappeared into the whirling energy that had suddenly bloomed above her—a portal consistent with Masumi's greatest strength in Dueling:

 **"Sharp jet-black darkness! Gem tinged with lightning!"** she chanted. **"Together with the sparkling warrior, combine in a whirlpool of light to bring forth a new dazzling radiance!**

 **"Fusion Summon! One who illuminates everything with its supreme radiance!** ** _Gem-Knight Master Dia_** **!"**

There was a flash of pure white light—and then the plain began to shake with the arrival of Masumi's most recognizable monster (Level 9: _ATK 2900_ /DEF 2500). The gigantic warrior brandished its equally immense blade at an entirely unruffled Q-Masumi.

This made the real Masumi pause briefly, confused—and then she remembered what Himika had told her. _Right … constant access to the Duel Monsters database_ , she thought. _So of course Q would know I'd have this monster—I bet it knew to expect it as soon as possible, too_.

" _Gem-Knight Master Dia's_ effect grants it 100 ATK for every _Gem-_ monster in my Graveyard," she explained, indicating the suddenly scintillating blade of Master Dia. "I've got four such monsters in my Graveyard—"

"—meaning 3300 ATK," Q-Masumi finished for her—and sure enough, Master Dia's ATK gauge had grown to just that.

"And that isn't all," Masumi went on. "One of the monsters I fused was _Gem-Knight Obsidia_ —and when it's sent from my hand to the Graveyard by a card effect, I can Special Summon a Level 4 or lower Gem-Knight Normal Monster from my Graveyard—for instance, the _Roumaline_ I fused with it!"

As _Master Dia's_ ATK dipped slightly to 3200, a second monster appeared on Masumi's field: the electric-yellow warrior from before (Level 4: _ATK 1600_ /DEF 1800). Lightning crackled from needle-like blades fixed to its arms, and it whirled these in a complicated dance as it touched down on the Solid Vision surface.

Again, however, Q-Masumi showed no sign of reticence. _Then let's go a bit further_ , thought Masumi.

"Next," she cried, sliding a second card into her Duel Disk, "I activate the Continuous Spell: _Brilliant Fusion_! By activating this card, I can fuse monsters from my Deck for a Fusion Summon—although," she added, "any monster I Summon with this effect has its ATK and DEF become 0." Not that it mattered, she thought; thinking of the _Gem-Knight Fusion_ in her Graveyard. "I'll fuse my _Gem-Knight Iola_ , _Gem-Knight Amber_ , and my _Gem-Knight Sanyx_ —so that I can Summon _this_!"

Translucent echoes of three different multicolored knight shimmered around her—before these, too, soared into the air, and into a second hurricane of color and energy:

 **"Crystal of eternal ice!"** Masumi declared. **"Stone of golden ages! Gem of crimson fire! In a whirlpool of light, combine to bring forth a new dazzling radiance!"**

 **"Fusion Summon! Behold, my true ace—the dazzling** ** _Gem-Knight Lady Brilliant Dia_** **!"**

The monster that hit the field with a resounding THUD was just as impressive in height as her _Master Dia_ —whose ATK had now increased to a daunting 3500, thanks to the recent additions within Masumi's Graveyard—although substantially duller in its appearance, no doubt due to the effect of the card that had made its Summoning possible. (Level 10/ _ATK 3400 » 0_ /DEF 2000 » 0).

Still, Q-Masumi showed no change in expression. Perhaps it knew what she was trying to do here, too, thought the Fusion user. The look of emotional detachment she was seeing on her _doppelgänger's_ face was beginning to get a little unnerving.

She shook her head briefly. _Keep your focus_ , she thought, remembering her first Duel against Li Shen, and how he had used his own natural abilities to keep her distracted and wrong-footed. She knew he was watching, along with Yaiba and all their other friends, up wherever Himika had taken them.

"Now I activate _Brilliant Dia's_ effect!" she cried. "Once per turn, I can send a _Gem-Knight_ monster I control to the Graveyard—and then, I can Special Summon a Gem-Knight Fusion Monster from my Extra Deck, bypassing its Summoning conditions! I'll send my _Roumaline_ to the Graveyard, and Special Summon _Gem-Knight Zirconia_!"

 _Roumaline_ vanished in an explosion of electricity; the arcs of plasma it gave off glinted brightly off the gigantic knight that had suddenly appeared in its place: an armored warrior slightly smaller than _Brilliant Dia_ and _Master Dia_ (its ATK gauge now reading **_3600_** ) but broader at the chest and shoulder, with faceted piledrivers big enough to crush a car in place of hands (Level 8: _ATK 2900_ /DEF 2500).

"Finally, I activate the effect of the Gem-Knight Fusion in my Graveyard," Masumi said. "By banishing a _Gem-Knight_ monster from my Graveyard, I can add the card back into my hand—so I'll banish my _Obsidia_!"

She did so, watching _Master Dia's_ ATK shift back to 3500. "Now, I'll activate _Brilliant Fusion's_ second effect," she explained. "By discarding a Spell Card, the monster I Fusion Summoned with _Brilliant Fusion_ gets to have its ATK and DEF restored to its original value until the End Phase of your next turn! So I'll discard my _Gem-Knight Fusion_ —and then I'll banish my _Alexand_ from my Graveyard to return it back to my hand once more!"

 _Brilliant Dia_ was suddenly possessed of a blinding light shining from within its armor. As its ATK and DEF climbed back up to **3400/2000** , Masumi had to shield her eyes; so sparkling was her ace monster's armor in this digital space that its mere presence alone felt like a second sun to Masumi. _Master Dia_ , meanwhile, now stood at 3400 ATK—and it was upon seeing this that Masumi felt she'd done as much as she could for her first turn.

"I end my turn," she said to Q-Masumi, with just the faintest touch of pride to her voice. The three monsters on her field were—by all accounts—the strongest she had in her arsenal. While Masumi found that a matter of debate, she couldn't help but think that would be worth it to see how Q could solve such a daunting obstacle.

* * *

High above the Duel, inside an observation platform that lay flush with one of the less-damaged walls in testing bay three, Himika and the other members of the LID were spectating the Duel.

"She did all that on her first turn," Yaiba said, more than a little impressed by what Masumi had managed to pull off. "The three biggest bodies in her Deck, and she brought them all out before Q could even make a move."

"There is a reason why she is the top Fusion Duelist in LDS," Shen agreed, "despite what others may have to say about it."

He'd said this last bit while casting his dark eyes upon Hotene, who'd stuck out her tongue in reply. Ever since their first Duel together, the nine-year-old had never stopped telling anyone who would listen about how she'd beaten Masumi in their first matchup together. By her young sense of logic, the victory had meant that she was now the top Fusion user in LDS, regardless of how often they Dueled later on.

Shen for his part, knew it didn't work that way. He too had defeated Masumi in their first Duel together—and a few minutes later, he'd gone on to beat Hotene so thoroughly in their first Duel together that the tiny Duelist had looked shell-shocked for a good few minutes. A few minutes later, however, she'd quickly returned to her normal boisterous self.

"None of her cards are disposable," the Synchro user was saying to Yaiba. "However many of them she banishes or sends to the Graveyard, she will always have some way to bring them back if her situation demands she do so."

"It won't help."

Everyone but Himika now turned to look at Fuyu, who hadn't spoken a single word since the Duel had begun. The frail Xyz Duelist had yet to tear his bright blue gaze from the field; he'd even pulled his silvery bangs aside so as to see the action with both eyes.

"I remember our Duel," said Fuyu. "This was the same field she used against me."

Yaiba considered this. "It's also the same field she used to win against those disgusting _Shaddolls_ last month," he replied, "or something close to it, anyway," he added with a shrug. "Just because she's using the same strategy she pulled off against you doesn't mean she's going to lose, Fuyu."

The Xyz user tore his eyes from the Duel for the first time to look at Yaiba. "Just because she did the same thing against … _her_ ," he rasped, shuddering as he recalled the person in question, " … it doesn't mean she'll win, either."

Yaiba had no answer to this.

* * *

"My turn," Q-Masumi said. She drew her sixth card in a fluid flourish that—Masumi had to admit—looked almost like she was performing in a ballet recital. "Using my _Qliphort Alias_ and my _Qliphort Access_ , I set the Pendulum Scale."

Masumi took a step back. _She's Pendulum Summoning already?!_ she thought wildly. _I'd expected a little more lead time—I didn't think Q would pull one off so soon!_ She wasn't unduly worried, however; whatever she was planning on Summoning, Masumi's own field was strong enough to protect her LP from significant damage.

Then it occurred that there was _another_ reason she ought to be worried of a Pendulum Summon. Immediately her gaze flicked to a point above and behind where she knew Q's mainframe to be; Masumi, heart racing, now knew she needed to keep a weather eye out for any sign that a repeat of the events that had caused J.D. Crowley to vanish without a trace. That had, after all, also appeared to happen right after Q had performed a Pendulum Summon.

Even the two blue beams of light that had lanced upwards into the air—the telltale indicators of Pendulum Scales—did not cause her attention to waver. The Scales themselves, however, did distract her momentarily, on account of being _vastly_ larger than most monsters Masumi had seen. One of them— _Alias_ —was long, flat, and all but transparent in certain sections; it reminded her of those old science fiction shows her father spoke of watching in his youth, where enemy spacecraft would use cloaking devices to hide from the heroes. _Access_ , on the other hand, looked considerably more organic—almost squid-like in its composition, although real-life squids didn't have the virtue of being large enough to flatten her middle school like a pancake, Masumi thought.

Both Scales, she now realized, had the same eye-like construction in their bodies as the one in Q's mainframe—even down to the red and blue crystals at either end. No doubt Akaba Reiji's finishing touches, she thought.

"Using these Scales," Q-Masumi was saying, "I can Pendulum Summon as many monsters from my hand as possible, as long as their Levels exclusively range from two to eight."

Lightning began to crackle between _Alias_ and _Access_ , and Masumi felt a sudden surge of foreboding. _Here we go …_

 **"Energy output nominal,"** Q-Masumi began to intone. **"Input projection parameters. Scale 1,** ** _Qliphort Alias_** **; Scale 9,** ** _Qliphort Access_** **."**

 **"Parameters accepted under pi-sigma protocol. Initiate resident program: Pendulum Summon. Specify: Level 6,** ** _Qliphort Archive_** **; Level 6,** ** _Qliphort Genome_** **."**

The electricity that coruscated from the Pendulum Scales reached a crescendo, and Masumi was forced to shield her eyes from the intense light they were giving off. Her heart was pounding fiercely; any second now, she knew, she would be hearing the same hellish sounds that J.D. Crowley had heard in his last moments—any moment now, she would be seeing the same nightmarish sights—

But the sounds of the lightning died away, and none came. Masumi heard no deafening roar—and saw no demonic face when she peeked out of the crook of her elbow. All that she saw were the two spaceship-like objects that she assumed Q-Masumi had Pendulum Summoned just now: a long, flat shape with six stubby legs that made Masumi think of some gigantic species of beetle (Level 6: _ATK 2400_ /DEF 1000), and a rocket-like craft whose cylindrical body spiraled around a central core—not unlike a strand of DNA (Level 6: _ATK 2400_ /DEF 1000).

"My Qliphort Pendulum Monsters have three effects in common with one another," Q-Masumi said. "Firstly, in addition to Pendulum Summoning, I am also able to Normal Summon them all without needing to Release a monster. Secondly, unless I Advance Summon them, their Level becomes 4 and their ATK becomes 1800." And sure enough, several lights on the mechanical titans were dimming slightly to reflect the change in their statistics. "Finally, if they are Normal Summoned, they are unaffected by the effects of monsters whose Level or Rank is lower than their Level."

So all of Q's monsters were particularly high-leveled, Masumi realized. This explained the large difference in size between its Pendulum Scales—they were all Level 5 to 8, but their Summoning effects allowed to bypass normal game mechanics, at the cost of losing their Levels and a fair-sized chunk of their ATK. That last effect, however, was especially worrying; Masumi was glad she'd decided to go all out and Fusion Summon her highest-leveled monsters; otherwise, she might not have been able to cause much damage to Q's field.

"The Pendulum effect of _Qliphort Alias'_ ," Q-Masumi went on, "grants all _Qliphort_ monsters I control an extra 300 ATK." Archive and Genome brightened slightly as each of their ATK gauges went up to 2100. "Furthermore, the Pendulum effect of _Qliphort Access'_ causes all monsters my opponent controls to lose 300 ATK."

Masumi had whirled on her field the moment the last word had left Q-Masumi's digitized mouth—but even as she witnessed her _Master Dia_ and _Brilliant Dia_ dropping to 3100 ATK each, and her _Zirconia_ to 2600, she relaxed. Neither of those _Qliphorts_ had the physical strength to get past any of her monsters—even with the effects of those Pendulum Scales.

In hindsight, she thought, she'd spoken too soon—for Q-Masumi had chosen that time to say, "Now, I will Release my _Qliphort Archive_ and my _Qliphort Genome_."

Masumi bit her lip as _Archive_ and _Genome_ began to glow. _Then whatever she's bringing out is going to be a lot more difficult to get rid of_ , she realized. A Level 7-plus monster with a buff to its ATK, and immunity to any monster effects Masumi might have used against it … but it was only a single monster, she knew. Her field would be safe, for the time being.

 **"Specify parameters for Release,"** stated Q-Masumi. **"Level 4,** ** _Qliphort Archive_** **; Level 4,** ** _Qliphort Genome_** **."**

 **"Parameters accepted under alpha-sigma-two protocol. Initiate resident program: Advance Summon. Specify: Level 7,** ** _Qliphort Disk_** **."**

 _Archive_ and _Genome_ now shattered into photonic dust; in its place hovered a massive saucer-like shape that Masumi couldn't help but equate with the classic perception of a UFO (Level 7: _ATK 2800 »_ _ **3100**_ /DEF 1000). Three curved fins—one each along either side and the underside of _Disk_ —sizzled with blue energy that Masumi suspected was going to head right for her Zirconia.

Or maybe he'll ram it into one of my other monsters, she decided; after all, she knew enough about Pendulum Monsters to know that Q could Summon them from the Extra Deck as well as the hand—and that if they were sent to the Graveyard while on the field, they went into the Extra Deck instead of the Graveyard.

" _Qliphort Archive's_ final effect," said Q-Masumi. "When it is Released for any reason, it lets me target a monster on the field, I may target 1 monster on the field and return it to the hand."

Perhaps it was a trick of the light—or perhaps a glitch in the program? Masumi wondered—but a sudden glint had shone in her doppelganger's holographic eye. "I target and return your _Gem-Knight Zirconia_."

Masumi scowled as a blue-white laser lanced from _Disk's_ right-side fin and vaporized her _Zirconia_ —that was a setback, but not a terribly debilitating one. "Since _Zirconia_ was Summoned from the Extra Deck," she said, "my _Zirconia_ returns there instead." She swiped the card into her Duel Disk's Extra Deck slot. That still leaves two monsters, she knew. _Surely there's no way that Q will be able to deal with them all_.

" _Qliphort Genome's_ final effect," Q-Masumi said again, in the same tone of voice. "When it is Released for any reason, it lets me target 1 Spell or Trap Card on the field and destroy it."

The glint in its eye appeared again—and this time, Masumi was beginning to wonder if it was a glitch after all. "I target and destroy your _Brilliant Fusion_."

 _Damn_ , thought Masumi, watching _Disk's_ left-side fin erupt in more blue light, blasting her Spell Card to atoms. "Due to _Brilliant Fusion's_ final effect, _Brilliant Dia_ is destroyed when it leaves the field," she said sullenly.

It took her a moment to realize what she'd just said. _Wait a minute_ , the Fusion user thought. _Brilliant Dia_ was destroyed! Then that meant … _Yes!_ she cheered inwardly; Q had made an error! Her _Master Dia_ was still on the field—and _Brilliant Dia's_ destruction had meant that its ATK was now at 3200—just enough to best _Disk_ in battle!

" _Qliphort Disk's_ effect," said Q-Masumi, apparently unaware of the revelation that had just occurred to her counterpart. "When it is Advance Summoned by Releasing at least 1 _Qliphort_ monster, I may Special Summon 2 _Qliphort_ monsters from my Deck; however, they are destroyed during the End Phase of my turn. I will Special Summon a second copy of _Qliphort Archive_ , and a second copy of _Qliphort Genome_."

This time, it was the bottom-most fin on Disk that shone with sapphire energy; the beam widened and brightened all around the monster, causing Masumi to avert her eyes once again. A few moments later, she noticed the same two monsters Q had Pendulum Summoned before on either side of _Disk_ , their point gauges identical to one another (Level 6 » 4: _ATK 2400 » 1800 »_ _ **2100**_ /DEF 1000)—but still not as strong as _Master Dia_ , Masumi thought smugly.

That was when Q-Masumi spoke again. "And now, I will Release my _Qliphort Archive_ , _Qliphort Genome_ … and my _Qliphort Disk_."

Masumi's brain ground to a halt. What?! "That's not possible," she said immediately. "Each player only gets 1 Normal Summon per turn—and you used yours to Advance Summon that Disk just now. I'm assuming that's what you're trying to do now—another Advance Summon?"

"You are correct." This time, Masumi knew the glint in Q-Masumi's eye was no glitch. "However, my Field Spell: _Qliphortress_ allows me to conduct a second Normal Summon of a _Qliphort_ monster once per turn. Moreover, any Normal Summons of _Qliphort_ monsters I conduct cannot be negated."

The Fusion Duelist's jaw dropped. _Field Spell?! But when did—_

She stopped in her tracks as it hit her. Only one person in her memory had ever used a Field Spell without having to activate it first, and that was because of an automated subroutine in their Duel Disk that automatically allowed _her_ to use it upon initiating a Duel. Only a select group of people within Maiami City were aware that such a feature even _existed_ —and all of them held membership in the newly created LID, Masumi knew. No one with access to Q could possibly have known to include such a program in their Duel Disk.

Except for one person.

Masumi felt a surge of anger inside her. _So this whole environment was a Field Spell all along_ , she thought as she watched all three of Q-Masumi's monsters shatter into their residual photons. _And now Q's going to use it to Summon a triple-Release monster; there's only been a few of those in the entire game of_ Duel Monsters _—and I can't_ remember _the last time one of them was even_ created, the Fusion user added, impressed against her will, _let alone played!_

 **"Specify parameters for Release,"** Q-Masumi spoke once again. **"Level 4,** ** _Qliphort Archive_** **; Level 4; Qliphort Genome; Level 7,** ** _Qliphort Disk_** **!"**

The remnants of _Disk_ now swirled into an immense portal that seemed to fill the digital sky of _Qliphortress_. Q-Masumi's digital eyes, meanwhile, were not only glinting, but _glowing_ —and more worrying still, its synthesized voice was growing louder and—dare Masumi say it?—more _emotional_ as well.

And then she realized that of course this was the case; Q itself had said that it could theoretically imitate any Dueling style in existence—that it could look like, Duel like, and even _behave_ like the opposing Duelist.

 **"Energy output at 100%. System override alpha! Parameters accepted under alpha-sigma protocol, exception three! Initiate resident program: Advance Summon! Specify: Level 9,** ** _Apoqliphort Kernel_** **!"**

As Q-Masumi finished her chant- _cum_ -systems check, the portal above both Duelists suddenly flared. But before Masumi had a chance to shield her eyes, the blinding light had darkened almost immediately—on account of the massive metal titan that had appeared overhead (Level 9: _ATK 2900_ /DEF 2500).

The vast, double-ringed construction did not resemble a Duel Monster so much as an entire _city_ , the Fusion user thought in stunned surprise—or at the very least, a very large citadel or temple. In fact, there was only one monster she could think of who could eclipse that monster in terms of sheer size—and that this _Kernel_ Q had Summoned was actually physically _stronger_ than that monster was more than a little terrifying.

Perhaps it might have been even more terrifying if it still wasn't as strong enough to destroy her _Master Dia_ , Masumi thought—and more importantly, if it hadn't already answered a burgeoning question in her mind.

"Where my Qliphort Pendulum Monsters cannot be affected by monsters whose Ranks or Levels are inferior to their own," Q-Masumi was saying in the meantime, "my _Apoqliphort Kernel_ is also protected from the effects of Spells and Traps as well."

Masumi bit her lip. That was a near-total immunity to almost every card she had in her Deck, she thought—and to a whole lot of other monsters as well; it was rare that a Duelist had the chance to bring out anything higher than a Level 9 such as this, if indeed one even existed in their Deck. This monster was no pushover—even if it wasn't as physically strong as her _Master Dia_.

"And now," the supercomputer continued, "I will activate _Apoqliphort Kernel's_ effect: once per turn, I can target 1 monster my opponent controls—and take control of it until the End Phase of the turn."

The Fusion Duelist's heart stopped. "You're doing _what?!_ "

Q-Masumi's digital face suddenly twisted into a smile thin enough to cut through steel. "I am targeting your _Gem-Knight Master Dia_ and taking control of it," she said. " _That's_ what I am doing … Masu- _chan_."

And before Masumi could blink, the eye-like shield emblazoning the prow of _Kernel_ had begun to glow a bright white color. Immediately, _Master Dia_ stiffened as if due to some outside influence—and shuffled round to stare down at Masumi. The visor covering its face hid its eyes from view—but there was no mistaking the source of the white light that shone from within it now.

Masumi began to back away, but she knew it was no use. _Unbelievable_ , she thought. _Q just took out my entire field in a single turn—and in just about every way possible! And not only that …_

"Battle Phase," smirked the Q-Masumi. " _Apoqliphort Killer_ , attack Masumi's Life Points directly! Lock on target—Apocalypse Laser Barrage!"

Golden energy suddenly began to snake all over the spikes lining the two crossed rings of Kernel's body, concentrating on the sharp points pointing straight down. A moment later, that energy had erupted in a firestorm, decimating the grassy hill where Masumi stood into scorched earth, and dropping her LP to 1100 in the process.

"Finally, _Gem-Knight Master Dia_. Attack Masumi's Life Points directly. _Lock on target_."

Masumi ran—but again, she knew there was little she could do. The thought of Q using her own monster to finish her off was distasteful—even though she knew machines had no concept of taste, for better or worse. Even so, better that she lose from a glancing blow instead of being stamped into a pulp by her own _Master Dia's_ foot.

 _Master Dia_ now hefted its sword, swinging it in a broad, wide swath that could have felled a tree. From that blade sliced a wave of multicolored energy; it struck mere feet behind her—but the shockwave was enough to lift Masumi into the air, higher than any one of _Gravity Sixteen's_ trampolines could ever hope to accomplish. The Fusion user's cries were swiftly drowned by the ensuing explosion—and then again by the squeal of her Duel Disk, announcing the total depletion of her Life Points.

Fortunately for Masumi, it seemed as though this testing bay was equipped with its own safety systems, because seconds later, she'd fell on top of a pile of debris with rather less force than she might have expected; it felt like an invisible net had deployed around her—right before landing on the collection of junk with a sonorous _crash_.

It was a long time before she felt ready to speak again. When she did, there was little more appropriate to say—little more to express everything that had just happened to her—except a long, drawn-out, and wholly appropriate " _Ow_."

* * *

Up in the observation platform, the remainder of the LID watched, slack-jawed almost to a one, as the holographic representation of _Qliphortress_ shimmered out of existence, replaced by the ravaged interior of testing bay three. Q-Masumi, too, faded away from view, gradually being replaced by the rectangular slab that was its mainframe, its many banks of circuits and lights going dark as it finally powered down.

"A one-turn kill … " Hotene's voice was unusually hushed, her eyes round as coins. "Did that really just happen?"

"I saw it," Yaiba said to nobody in particular, "but I'm having a lot of trouble believing it."

"You should believe it." Shen was deep in thought, his brow furrowed. "I must admit, I am not certain how I would fare against a Deck that powerful," remarked the Synchro user. "These _Qliphort_ monsters are … most vexing."

"I _told you_ she was going to lose," Fuyu mumbled. "She did too much too quickly on her first turn. Wasting your strength so soon against a Duelist you don't even know is a recipe for failure."

"What a ray of sunshine you are, huh?" chided Yaiba. "I think Masumi actually had the right idea—every _Gem-Knight_ she Summoned to her field had a higher Level than anything Q ever did—so they _could_ have affected those _Qliphorts_. It was only bad luck," he said, "that none of those monsters had the effects to do that in the first place."

"Do you believe you can do better?" Himika—who had not spoken throughout the Duel—finally asked. "Do any of you believe you can hold your own against Q, after seeing what it is capable of?"

There followed a muted chorus of _no's_ and _no way's_. Yaiba in particular had bridled at the thought of what might happen to his _X-Sabers_ in Masumi's place. "I think you've made your point, Headmistress," he grunted. "You've made a Deck that can take out anything Academia can throw at us."

Himika gave a humorless chuckle. "My son deserves most of the credit," she said. "All I did was reengineer Q's function. And because of it, and its Duel against Masumi we have now gained an important piece of knowledge."

"Yeah?" Yaiba turned to look at her. "What's that?"

Himika was about to reply, but the door to the observation platform banged open at that point—revealing Masumi, who looked as though she'd run a race to get up here … and hopping mad to boot, Yaiba noticed.

"I want a word," the Fusion Duelist growled through clenched teeth and heavy breathing. She was looking straight at the LDS chairwoman. " _Alone_."

Slowly, Himika rose from her seat. "Kōtsu Masumi," she said softly, in a tone so cold that everyone else—even Shen—took a few steps back from her, "you would do well to _revise your tone_ and address me more _appropriately_."

Yaiba could feel the tension between the two women. Hotene and Fuyu were both wide-eyed and worried.

"All right." Masumi's voice was even softer—it sounded as though she was trying to grind her teeth to powder. "May I please speak with you in private … Headmistress?"

There was another long moment of apprehension. Then, Himika got up and followed Masumi out of the room, closing the door behind her.

* * *

Masumi waited a few seconds after Himika had shut the door before she rounded on her.

"You _knew_ ," she hissed accusingly. "You had that Field Spell integrated into Q's software."

"You were the one who gave me the idea," Himika said simply, her ice-blue eyes fixed on Masumi's own.

"And that's why you told me to Duel it," said Masumi, "to make sure your program worked as intended. It was just another test run, wasn't it?"

Himika gave no answer other than to arch her eyebrow, prompting Masumi to continue, "I'm guessing that was why that Crowley guy was running those tests before he disappeared, too—wasn't it?"

Finally, Himika showed some semblance of emotion—even if the smile on her face felt as thin as an icicle. "Very perceptive," she said, "but ultimately not _fully_ correct."

It was Masumi's turn to quirk an eyebrow. "This was primarily a test to ensure that the LID was capable of fighting on _terra incognita_ ," said Himika, "that is to say, the same Field Spell subroutines you were forced to face last month. Fighting them in your mind is one thing. Fighting them in real life, however, is entirely another.

"More to the point, however, it also helped us gain some ground in our investigation," the headmistress went on. "Perhaps you noticed?"

Masumi had. "The Pendulum Summon. That in itself wasn't what made Crowley disappear, was it?"

"Correct." Something in the way Himika said the single word suggested to Masumi that that wasn't all there was to it. She huffed. "You could have told me all this beforehand," she grunted. "If I'd known about this Field Spell program—and why you told me to Duel Q in the first place—maybe then I'd have put up more of a fight against your son's pet project than I did just now."

"No one told you the first time," Himika answered her. "And that's the point," she added, her tone suddenly sharp. "This is part of what it means to be a member of the LID—and by extension, the Lancers themselves. You're facing a foe that won't lie in wait for the opportune moment—because as far as they're concerned, that moment is _now_. They're not going to wait for you to explain which card does what while you're in a Duel with them—because that's the _last_ thing they'll want to do for you in _your_ place. You're no longer fighting a tournament, Masumi … you're fighting a _war_. To fight your enemy, you have to know your enemy—and the sooner you understand this, the sooner you and the rest of your friends will learn to stop resting on your laurels, and thrive in these uncertain times."

Masumi could think of no real answer to this. She felt herself sighing, deflating like an old tire. "I still don't like being used as one of your lab rats," she said sullenly; most of the air she'd built up before had now bled off in her moment of uncertainty. "I proved to you before that I could be a part of the Lancers."

"In your mind," added Himika. "If everything that had happened during the _Shaddoll_ incident were to happen again, only this time in _real life_ … do you think you could _still_ have proven that to me then?"

Even as she did her best to search for an answer, Masumi already knew that search was in vain. Mercifully, Himika's phone went off at that moment, shattering the tense calm between them.

"Yes?" The chairwoman listened to the other end of the line for a moment—and then Masumi saw a look on her face that she could only call 'mystified'. At first, she was wondering how her mobile could get a reception down here—and then it occurred to her that this observation platform must have been one of the "checkpoints" she'd been talking about. Perhaps it was a perk of her position to use a mobile phone where others might need a landline.

But what Himika said next was even more mystifying. "It's for you," she said, offering the phone to Masumi, who felt very confused. _Who would want to call the Headmistress about me?_ she wondered.

Slowly, heart pounding, she picked up the phone. "H-hello?"

"Masumi?" Immediately, she felt her body go slack in mixed surprise and relief—she'd know that voice anywhere.

"I was trying to contact you for the past fifteen minutes," her father was saying, "but I couldn't get an answer on your phone. Then I called the front office of LDS, and they said you were with the Headmistress, and I asked them if they could transfer my call. Is everything okay over there?"

Masumi swallowed, her eyes instantly flicking to Himika, who shook her head—looking at the Fusion user in a very meaningful way. Immediately, she understood.

"Yes, Father," Masumi replied, unsure whether or not that was a lie. "Everything's fine. She just wanted to spectate one of my Duels today."

"I see." Maybe it was just the poor reception Himika's phone was getting, but Masumi thought her father sounded uneasy about something. "Should I call you back?" he asked. "I don't want to interrupt your work if you're busy."

Himika nodded. "Why don't I call you back when I leave LDS for the day?" Masumi offered, risking a jaunty smile. "I wouldn't want to interrupt _your_ work, either."

"I've already clocked out," her father replied. "I was thinking we could go out to eat tonight. There's some news I think you might like to hear—but if you're busy now, I can wait."

"What kind of news?"

"Ah-ah," said her father. "Work first, Masumi—I know how much LDS means to you. I want to know you're working hard over there."

More than you might think, the Fusion user thought. "Sure, I can do that," Masumi thought. "I'll call you once I've left the school." Seeing Himika's expectant look: "I'd better go now. Bye."

She ended the call before her father had a chance to say anything in reply, handing the phone back to Himika as if they were playing some deadly variant of pass-the-parcel.

"You see?" Himika asked. "You're already beginning to keep secrets from your own family, Masumi—if ever there was a sign that we were at war, that's one right there. How much about the _Shaddoll_ incident have you told them?"

Masumi did not answer.

"Good," said Himika. "I'm afraid the same goes for the LID. Officially, this organization is an extracurricular activity. _Unofficially_ , it's to be treated with the same care that you'd treat any classified business. _No one_ must know unless I deem it necessary—not even your own family."

"Why?" Masumi wanted to know. "Shouldn't they know I'm safe?"

"If it compromises their safety in turn," said Himika, "then the answer is no. Or have you already forgotten what the LID was created to do?"

 _To investigate potential threats to LDS_ , thought Masumi— _and from both inside and out, I bet you'll tell me_.

"I understand," she grunted, not really understanding at all—she felt that the Headmistress was making a mountain out of a molehill here. "Is there anything more you needed to tell me about?"

Himika considered this. "For the time being … no," she said. "You and your friends may go about the rest of your day as you please. I must still contact the Americans about Crowley. I'll call you to my office tomorrow, and we'll talk from there."

Masumi knew then that the discussion was over. Himika, meanwhile, had turned away then to open the door to the gallery, presumably to tell the others that they were dismissed as well—and not to repeat a word of what they'd learned today to the outside world.

Yet she remained where she stood even as Shen, Yaiba, Fuyu and Hotene filed out of the door, only moving when Himika had closed up the door behind them. Masumi did not feel comfortable with having the LDS chairwoman's eye on her all the time; bringing up the rear behind her seemed less stressful for her.

This LID business, the Fusion user thought, was beginning to feel less and less fulfilling with each passing hour.

* * *

No one spoke until some time after the freight elevator had opened up to the ground floor of LDS. Part of it was due to their experiences in LeoCorp R part of it was due to all the others feeling the watchful gaze of Akaba Himika boring into their skulls.

Masumi, for her part, had never been happier to pass by the atrium to the double glass doors leading out of the Duel School. She needed a lot of time to think about what had happened today—the disappearance of that technician, the damage sustained to the testing bay, Q and his _Qliphort_ monsters—

" _Hotene!_ "

The Fusion user promptly jumped out of her skin as a miniature blur sped past her, and right for the tiny Duelist. Closer inspection revealed a young girl of about ten, with wispy neon-green hair, and burnt orange highlights that made her ponytail look like it was on fire, and a smile that—somehow—looked even wider than Hotene's.

"RIKA- _TAN_!" Hotene shrieked back—and moments later, the two girls were embracing. Masumi found it hard to follow the ensuing conversation, as Hotene's apparent friend wasted no time in talking a mile a minute—that, and Yaiba nudged her.

"Emina Rika," he explained, watching her and Hotene jabber away at one another. "She's the top of the Junior Synchro circuit—just like Hotene's at the top of Junior Fusion. Hotene beat her in the first round of the Maiami Championship. It was actually a pretty close Duel—not as close as they are, by the looks of it."

"Let me guess," Masumi said, feeling a small smile creep onto her face in spite of what had happened below ground. "You're keeping tabs on her if she decides to challenge you for the position of top Synchro Duelist overall?"

Yaiba bristled, but stood firm. "I don't need a little girl to tell me I'm not the best Synchro Duelist in the city," he said defensively. "That's why I have Shen," he added, pointing to the stoic teenager behind his shoulder.

"Thank you for including me in this conversation," Shen said flatly. "It brings me to my question. I would like to return to my _sifu's_ shrine, now that we are finished here for the day. Perhaps we may be able to resume our practicing from where we left off?"

"Sure, we can do that," Yaiba shrugged. "You got anywhere to be, Fuyu?"

"Not really," mumbled the Xyz user. "It's supposed to be a clear night, though. Maybe I'll see a meteor shower."

"Fair enough. At least walk with us for a spell, though," Yaiba offered. "Shen's shrine is close enough to your place that you can grab a bus if you need to."

Fuyu shrugged—which Masumi took to be a yes. "What about you, Masumi?" asked Yaiba. "You got any plans for tonight?"

"Probably," the Fusion user said. "My father called me up earlier and said something about maybe eating out tonight. Apparently he's got some news he wants to give me."

"Let's hope it's something good," Yaiba said, before clapping her on the shoulder so hard she felt something pop. "See you tomorrow, then?"

Masumi nodded, smiling at Yaiba. "Tomorrow."

The Synchro user flipped a jaunty salute at her, while Shen settled for a stiff bow that Masumi returned somewhat awkwardly. Fuyu waved halfheartedly back at her, although he had a little more spring to his step on his way out the door after Masumi waved back at him.

That left her, Hotene, and her friend Rika—and the two Junior Duelists had just finished their rapid conversation, giving Masumi a chance to get a word in edgewise. "Trampo-Land's still open, Hotene," she offered. "You want to head there for a bit before rush hour sets in? We've still got a rematch to do, you know."

"Nah—I hafta leave too, Masu- _chan_ ," Hotene shrugged. "Rika- _tan_ 's got a lot of homework tonight an' a big math test tomorrow, an' she wants me to help her out."

"We're workin' with fractions!" Rika added helpfully.

Not having any real answer to this, Masumi shrugged. "Well, good luck with your test," she said, smiling at them both. "See you tomorrow, Hotene—and remember, don't say anything."

"About what?" Rika and Hotene asked simultaneously. There was a moment of silence, and then both girls fell upon each other, giggling uproariously. Masumi couldn't help but laugh, too, as she waved at them one last time before stepping out of LDS and into Maiami City.

* * *

It took a few blocks of aimless walking and thinking before Masumi finally remembered her conversation with her father. She quickly took out her mobile and dialed his number.

"I just left school," she informed him the moment she'd heard him pick up. "I'm on my way home."

"Oh, no—no, Masumi," her father said hurriedly. "We're on our way to the restaurant now—the _Ukai-tei_ over in the commercial sector? I managed to reserve us a private room over there—you can just meet us there."

Masumi blinked. "I remember that place—I'd go there every year for my birthday when I was little," she said nostalgically. "I remember I always wanted to see how the chefs cooked their food."

"Well, now you'll get the chance," chuckled her father. "One of my friends from college just became the new proprietor, and I thought we could all treat ourselves while I caught up with him."

"That sounds great," Masumi said. "You told me earlier that you'd tell me this news of—wait," Masumi said. "You said ' _we_ ' were on our way to the restaurant. Who's ' _we_ '?"

"That's the big news," said her father. "I got a call from the airport an hour ago. Your mother's here."

Masumi nearly dropped the phone. _What did he just say?!_ " … Mother's in town?" she whispered, unable to speak any louder out of shock.

"Yep. She built up enough vacation hours that the museum practically _begged_ her to take a break. She's with me in the car—you want to say hello?"

 _My mother's in town for the first time in months and I don't know what to say to her I don't even know what should I even talk about_

" … Sure," shrugged the Fusion user. There was a moment of silence while her father presumably handed the phone over—and then, a melodic, lilting voice that made her go rigid.

"Hi, Masumi!"

" … H-hi, Mother," Masumi managed to stutter out. "Sorry, I … I had a long day at school today. This has been one surprise in a whole line of them," she said, forcing a laugh.

She heard a tinkling laugh. "Well, then I'm glad we're taking this time to be together as a family," said her mother. "We hardly ever see each other, you know—why don't you set everything else aside and unwind for a change? Your homework will be there when you get back home."

Masumi thought about it. "Yeah, I can do that," she replied. "How close are you to the _Maiami_ _Ukai-tei_?"

"Your father says we're a few minutes away. You want to walk and meet us there? I hear the place gets busy—reservations or no reservations. We can wait for you."

"Good point," said Masumi. "I'll start on my way down. I can't wait to see you again."

"Me either, Masumi," said her mother sweetly. "Talk to you later."

"Okay—love you."

"Love you too! Bye!"

"Bye."

Masumi hung up, and sighed so loudly that she could almost feel herself deflating onto the sidewalk. As if today hadn't just gotten more complicated, thought the Fusion Duelist—now her own family was here, and no doubt expecting to tell her everything she'd been up to lately since the last time they'd spoken.

Not that she didn't want to see her family again, of course—but after today, Masumi didn't think that _everything_ she'd been up to lately was something that her mother might want to hear.

* * *

 _4:12 P.M.  
_

Where Masumi's father ran a jewelry store, his wife worked security for museums around the world whenever they were hosting an exhibit of gemstones—particularly the rarest and most expensive of them all. In fact, the _Gem-Knight_ Deck Masumi used in her Duels had once belonged to her mother while she worked; many of those cards had ensured that a lot of would-be thieves saw a premature end to their careers in crime.

Masumi had been envious of her while she was growing up, being so close to so many sparkling jewels and precious stones. For a time, she'd even wanted to be a museum guard like her mother when she grew up—but when the subject of near-constant travel had been brought up, along with the notion of not being able to stay in one place for very long, Masumi had grudgingly relegated that dream to a fantasy, and replaced it with the hope of being hired to her father's store the moment she came of age.

Of course, it was barely a year later that she'd been accepted into LDS, and received her mother's Deck as a present for the occasion. As her mother said, it was her way of telling Masumi to follow whatever dream she wanted.

"As long as you have this, I'll be watching over you," she had said tearfully that day. "Look at my eyes, Masumi. Look at how they're sparkling right now—just like those big jewels I see at work all the time. Whenever you Duel with these cards, I want you to think of these eyes … and I want you to remember how proud of you I am tonight."

Masumi had indeed looked at those eyes—for about one second; that was when her mother had promptly broken down sobbing, holding Masumi in a bear hug that had nearly squeezed the life out of her.

The hug that a gasping Masumi was currently locked into right now, on the front steps of the _Maiami Ukai-tei_ , felt somewhat like that—only this time, Masumi was bigger, and her mother was still as strong as ever.

"Mother … can't … breathe … " she choked out. "Need … air … "

Fortunately, her mother lessened her hold on Masumi's chest at that moment, and the Fusion user stumbled back, gasping deeply and checking her ribcage for signs of fractures.

Masumi had known almost since kindergarten that she'd grow up to look just like her mother—they had the same wide eyes, the same tanned skin, and especially the same long black hair—although her mother often tied hers back in a bun while she was on the job, only letting it out when she'd clocked out for the day. She was still taller than her by nearly a head, though—and as she had just demonstrated, quite a bit stronger—but the resemblance between mother and daughter, especially at Masumi's young age, remained uncanny.

"I really have missed you, Masumi," she said as her father led them to an adjoining room within the restaurant itself, a fusion of art-nouveau, traditional Japanese style … and quite a lot of _red_ , she thought; vivid red lacquer on the pottery, red marble on the floor of the foyer, red carpeting on every other floor—and it might not be a stretch to assume the glass of the windows was also some form of red, if looked at from up close.

"Are your eyes bleeding, or is it just me?" muttered Masumi to her mother about the décor.

Her mother laughed. "I feel like I'm inside a cayenne pepper," she commented. "Don't mention it to your father, though—if his friend comes by to chat tonight, he probably won't want to hear about his choice in color schemes."

"Oh, I bet the food'll be great," said Masumi. Then, with a giggle, "But if it's as red as the rest of this place … "

* * *

Thankfully, all signs on that question pointed to "no." Furthermore, the room her father had helped reserve was rather more subdued in its color palette—for which Masumi's eyes were quite relieved; staring at so much of one vivid color was beginning to strain them.

"So what was it like in New York City?" she asked over her bowl of chicken and mushroom soup a little while later, looking forward to the flounder and taro fritter she'd ordered a few minutes ago.

"Like nothing I've ever felt before," replied her mother. "It's a whole different kind of city over there, Masumi. Maiami City may be bigger, but New York feels _taller_. When you walk through Times Square, you really do feel just how small you are in the world. It can be an eye-opening experience if you're not ready for it."

"I know a thing or two about that," Masumi said—perhaps a little too quickly.

She saw her mother and father exchange glances for a brief moment. "Of, um—of feeling small in the world," she hurriedly amended. "I saw so many different Dueling styles at the championship last month—and Duelists from so many different places. One of them was from the LDS Broadway branch, actually. Did you pass by there at all?"

"It's impossible to miss," said her mother with a smile—but this time it seemed a little forced. "The place seems to have more glitz and glamour around it than the _actual_ Broadway—and that's saying something."

She turned to her husband. "I'm glad I was able to catch a flight out when I did. It looks like the Americans are getting worried about things over here."

Masumi frowned. "What do you mean?"

Her mother looked surprised. "You didn't hear? I saw a news report about one of their citizens who worked here at LeoCorp—there was some kind of accident, and people are saying he might be a casualty."

Masumi stopped eating. _This was already on the news?!_ But word couldn't have been broken so quickly—unless, she thought, trying to calm herself down, that Himika had only partially disclosed the events of what had happened down there. Breaking the full story would be corporate suicide.

"Did their news stations report it, or ours?" she asked.

"Theirs," said her mother. "It was just a back-pager, I think—didn't even last a minute. But I was wondering if maybe you'd heard anything about it, Masumi—since you go to LDS and all."

 _So the Americans know about Crowley now_ , Masumi thought—but not as much as Himika, evidently, else it would have been a front-page story or a breaking segment. She briefly wondered if this was the chairwoman's doing, or the _Americans'_.

In the meantime, she shrugged. "It's the first I've heard of it," she lied. "LDS and the Leo Corporation don't have nearly as much overlap as you might think, Mother." That, she thought, was substantially less than a lie.

"They didn't say anything to you?" her mother continued to press on. "Nothing on e-mail or anything like that?"

Masumi shook her head. "Maybe the Americans are overreacting," she shrugged. "It wouldn't be the first time—I learned about sensationalism in history class. I think they're just making a big deal about nothing."

Her mother bit her lip. "Or maybe they're making a big deal for a good reason," she mused, as if half to herself. But Masumi didn't think so—something told her that her mother had meant to say that out loud.

She frowned. "What do you mean, Mother?"

There was a pause—and her parents exchanged another glance. "Masumi," her father said, pushing aside his soup, "I'm afraid I wasn't entirely honest with you about tonight."

The Fusion user furrowed her brow. "About what?"

"Your father and I were talking earlier today," her mother said. "Now of course, he'd already told me about what happened to you last month, Masumi. I'm very glad to hear that you've recovered from that horrible ordeal—but it feels like you haven't told us _everything_ about it."

Masumi felt her stomach sink into her bowels. _Oh no_.

"As I recall," her mother went on, "you and a few friends got together for a sleepover one night—and then got rushed to hospital barely an hour later, where you don't regain consciousness until early the next morning." She sipped at her own soup. "As if that wasn't enough, your Duel School barely even spoke a word about five of their top students being in danger of actually _dying_!"

Masumi's father cleared his throat at that point, which was fortunate; his wife had sounded close to hysterics. Apparently she knew the same thing, judging from her flushed face and apologetic expression.

"I'm sorry, Masumi," she said. "It's just … I'm your _mother_. I hate that my job has to take me so far away from home all the time, but I should still have a right to know from them about what it was that you went through."

"It comes down to this, Masumi," her father chimed in. "First, there was the whole incident with the Maiami Championship getting called off due to circumstances beyond their control. Then, a week later, you have those nightmares, and then that unexplained coma. And now there's this talk about a LeoCorp employee getting hurt on the job—or worse—doing who-only-knows-what. I don't know what's going been going on with LDS of late, but they've been strangely quiet ever since talking about this would-be 'invasion'."

He accentuated this by making quote marks over his soup bowl. "So have these would-be invaders, too—assuming they still exist," he added. "I'm not saying LDS hasn't been doing a fantastic job by making sure things in this city stay peaceful and quiet, but all three of those things I just mentioned happening to you have one thing in common—and you attend it."

Masumi's jaw dropped. "You're not saying that they're—!"

"I'm not," her father said. "But the fact they're just as quiet makes me uneasy. LDS should be more transparent about what their students are doing in there. There's a lot of worried mothers and fathers like us in this city who think the same thing."

"You mean with the Lancers?" Masumi asked.

" _Especially_ the Lancers," said her mother. "Who are these people? Why are they what they are today? I even met someone at a coffee shop who taught at the Broadway branch—and he didn't know a thing about that Duelist you mentioned went there, let alone why he was picked to be a Lancer!"

"We don't want much," her father said. "We just want to know—from you—if you think LDS has the best interests of its students at heart."

"If you do, that's fine—we aren't trying to pry," her mother added reassuringly. "But if you don't … well … " Her face fell. "Then we may have to consider other … _options_ for you."

Masumi could scarcely believe what she was hearing. "You're telling me that you want to _pull me out of LDS?!_ "

"That's not what I meant—"

"But you _did_!" said Masumi, ejecting her _Gem-Knights_ from her Duel Disk and brandishing them in her mother's face. "You gave me this Deck, Mother—you told me yourself you were proud of me for knowing I was a part of that school now! I saw how much you cried when I told you over video-chat that I'd made top of my circuit—I'd never seen you so happy—and it was all because of your Deck that I got there!"

She eyed her mother. "And now you're saying that you want me to just drop it all—because you don't think the Leo Duel School is safe for me anymore?" she whispered. "How could you even say that?! How could you have so little confidence in who I am—in what I can do—when you are the reason I can do them at all?"

"Masumi," her mother sighed, "if you ever have children—even if it's just one—you'll want to know that they're safe, too. And the fact that LDS isn't telling us anything, for good or ill, really makes me think they aren't making sure they're safe. Especially after what everyone was saying happened to Hokuto—"

"Headmistress Akaba came to see me personally while I was recovering," said Masumi defensively. Her ears were burning at the mention of her friend's name.

"Three days after you'd already woken from your coma—and on your day of discharge, no less," said her mother. "Masumi, I'm going to be honest with you … I don't like what your headmistress has turned into. I'm worried she's going to be so wrapped up in this so-called 'invasion' that she's not going to see what _really_ matters in this city."

She sighed. "And if that should happen … then I don't think she deserves to call herself a headmistress anymore."

Masumi didn't remember standing up from her seat—or even the throbbing pain where her legs had hit the edge of the table. She hardly felt hungry anymore; her mind was racing a mile a minute, and it was teeming with so many emotions that the Fusion user hardly knew what to feel first.

"I … I need to visit the bathroom," she mumbled, and hobbled out of the room before either of her parents could say anything.

She did not stop until she'd reached a free stall in the restroom, where she'd promptly slammed the door shut and sat on the toilet, refusing to move.

 _I almost lost my temper at them_ , she thought, beginning to shake. _My mother … my father … I nearly snapped at them—because I don't know what the hell to tell them. I don't even know what I_ can _tell them anymore_.

She hung her head. _Because the more I think about it … the more I think my mother's got a point_. She sighed, thinking of what Himika had told her in that hospital last month—of the 'subtle gradations between friends and enemies.'

 _Does Himika really care enough about my safety?_ she wondered. _If she does, she's got a funny way of showing it_.

Her phone went off at that point. A quick check revealed it was the same number that had contacted her on the way out from Trampo-Land. _Himika_. "Hello?" she asked, with no small amount of trepidation.

"Hello, Masumi," said the voice of the LDS chairwoman. "I thought I should inform you that your Duel Disk—and those of your friends—should be commencing a software download shortly."

"A download of what?"

* * *

 _Leo Duel School_

 _Five minutes earlier_

"Of Q, for lack of a better term," Shirai said, standing across from Himika's desk, while her aide Nakajima remained close by.

"Explain." It was impressive, thought the lead programmer, how the chairwoman of LDS could pack so much into so few words.

"My team and I came to the conclusion that we were going about the project you assigned the wrong way," he began. "We decided that instead of miniaturizing Q so that he could fit inside a Duel Disk, we should _distribute_ him instead—use his software to serve as a means of communication between him, the LID, and you. Since that software allows him to utilize an existing Solid Vision network to manifest a holographic image within fifteen meters of any adequate generator, we proposed that this feature be downloaded to the LID's Duel Disks."

"In theory, it would allow Q," said Sakamura, to Shirai's right, "to assist in any Duels that the LID are participating in if necessary—whether by themselves, as a single unit, or in smaller groups. It will mean that some of his graphical features will be disabled—his holographic imagers will display a preset appearance, for instance, and be unable to shift its form to anyone or anything else."

To Shirai's left, Tanaka now spoke up. "Having said that, this will allow Q's primary mainframe to remain inside LeoCorp for further examination. We hope that a test run of its software will convince our shareholders that this latest incident should lead to our resuming shipping of the mass-produced units we have already built."

Himika and Nakajima exchanged glances. "Understand, Chairwoman," Shirai told her, "this is an interim measure at best. We are well aware that it is not designed to be a long-term solution. But this will provide us the time needed to look into creating a suitable long-term solution for a more mobile Q."

Finally, Himika nodded. "I take it you have a copy of this software to hand?"

Shirai smiled, and produced a flash drive, placing it on Himika's desk. The chairwoman inspected it, then gestured the lead programmer behind her seat. "Then by all means," she said, indicating her computer screen …

* * *

Masumi, having ended the call, now looked at her Duel Disk to find that it was displaying a message on the screen:

 **DOWNLOADING M_1610217_EXE …**

 **STATUS: 70% COMPLETE**

It was going fast enough that the Fusion user suspected it'd be finished before she'd sat back at table with her parents. _I wonder if the chef's come by yet with the food_ , she wondered, watching the gauge climb to 75% within a matter of seconds. _I'm feeling a little bit better now—I think I can eat something after all._

She rose to leave the bathroom. _Although I still think Himika's got a funny way of showing she cares about me_.

* * *

 _Leo Duel School_

 _4:21 P.M._

Nakajima's phone suddenly buzzed. Immediately, it was in the dutiful associate's hand and brought to his ear. "Go ahead." There was a momentary pause. "It's for you—building security says they found something you need to see," he said, handing the phone to Himika.

The LDS chairwoman was immediately all business. "Talk to me."

"Ma'am, we've not been able to make much headway in cleaning up that footage we recovered from the Q mainframe," said the female voice on the other end of the line. "However, while we were working, well … we're sending you the footage now."

And indeed, Himika's computer pinged—there was a new email in her folder; inside it, a single link to what appeared to be a video file. She clicked the file, and a window expanded on her computer screen.

It was the Q-mainframe, still surrounded in the middle of all the metallic detritus caused by Crowley's abductor, and seated in front of it were Masumi, Yaiba, and the rest of the LID. A faint shimmer in the footage told Himika that the footage was indeed video, taken from one of the closed-circuit cameras inside testing bay three.

"Enhance section gamma-three and magnify," said woman the building security, and Himika did so with a few taps on the touch screen. The image expanded even further, revealing individual pixels, which then sharpened into a more detailed image of the footage that—

 _Wait_.

Himika's sharp eyes had only seen it for a moment, and then it had vanished—or had it? Her eyes hovered over the same bullet-shaped patch of space. It was along the wall behind Q, far enough away that—

She shook her head. "What am I looking at here?"

"Surveillance footage from forty minutes ago," said building security. "Now here's what I'm sending you from forty _seconds_ ago."

Himika's computer pinged again—a second email, and a second video file. Himika opened that file—

—and nearly lurched out of her seat when she saw it.

No doubt about it, she thought. _It's the same size—the same shape—_

She set her jaw. _And it was in front of me this whole time_ , she realized—it _had_ to be, with neither Q nor the LID being the wiser. Perhaps it had even been there in between the footage, during Q's Duel with Masumi.

The chairwoman stiffened as she watched what was happening—as her mind reached an unpleasant conclusion.

 _Someone had been in there with them_.

 _… Or some_ thing.

She leapt out of her chair—there was only one thing she could do. "Shirai!" she cried. "Stop the download! _Now!_ "

The lead programmer immediately surged forward to her computer—but even a cursory inspection told him it was useless. "It's already at one hundred percent," he said. "I can't override the abort sequence—I've been locked out!"

"Then pull the plug!" shouted Himika. "If that download reaches those Duel Disks, then—"

That was when they heard a dull _whump_ from outside, muffled through the thick glass of her office window. Then they heard another … and another.

And another.

… And another.

Nakajima looked pale. "Those were explosions," he said. "Five of them. Five downloads … five Duel Disks … five Duelists."

He swallowed. "There's nothing more we can do," he said grimly. "For all we know … they may already be gone."

* * *

 **A/N: (** ** _sigh_** **) I had a feeling that this was going to get left in the dust as far as canon—hence, why I said on my profile that I'm treating this story, its predecessor, and any stories that come after it as AU fanfiction—but I certainly didn't expect things to shake out the way they've been going in** ** _ARC-V_** **lately. I also knew this story wasn't likely to be finished by the time the 6** **th** **entry into the franchise premiered, either; what a bittersweet moment that'll be (that said, card games on hoverboards hype?).**

 **I have no idea how much time has passed ever since the Lancers left Standard—it may only be a matter of days—but I like to think there's some degree of time dilation every time they change dimensions; maybe they don't always appear at their new destination at the same moment they leave their old one. To mangle one of my favorite quotes, "People assume dimensional travel is a strict progression from Point A to Point B, but actually, from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint, it's more like a big ball of wibbly-wobbly … spacey-wacey … stuff." Whether that excuses the temporal differences between this fanfic and** ** _ARC-V_** **is up to you.**

 **This is likely to be my last update for 2016, as I'll be on holiday with the family for a good bit of the next few weeks. I also do plan on continuing** ** _(æ)lohim_** **even after** ** _ARC-V_** **has come to a close, if that helps soothe any uneasy readers. While I don't know what this will mean for any future sequels, I'll do my best to make something happen—if and when that time should come.**

 **Sorry for the lengthy post. See you in 2017, and thanks for reading! – K**

 **P.S.: I'm sorry for mangling your quote, Mr. Moffat—please,** ** _please_** **don't erase me from time.**


	5. V

V

 _4:21 P.M._

 _Thirty seconds earlier_

Emina Rika and Menoko Hotene had more in common than being the top-ranked Duelist in their respective circuit. Like many girls their age, the similarities between them had—more often than not—stemmed from things they liked to do, rather than _why_ they did the things they liked to do. When they Dueled, for example, Hotene did so simply to have fun—but Rika, on the other hand, did so out of a need to "get the wiggles out", as she liked to put it. The Junior Synchro ace literally could not sit still for longer than a half-second without fidgeting—and the longer she had to, the more she had to vent some of that energy. The day would come, perhaps, when Hotene—herself a flighty and impulsive character—would see a kindred spirit in Rika for more than just her love of Dueling, but today was not that day.

It had taken barely half an hour after Rika had invited Hotene into her bedroom to promptly abandon their math homework, leaving it in an unceremonious pile on the floor in favor of the music video game the two girls were currently dancing to. Naname Mikiyo's voice had been blaring from the television for a good fifteen minutes now, the volume of her vocals matched only by the two girls' cacophonous attempts to sing and dance along with her. Not even the chiming of Hotene's Duel Disk to inform her of a new e-mail was audible over the racket they were making.

The melody hit a brief lull just then, just long enough for Rika to hear that the doorbell was ringing. She knew that her parents had gone to the store to pick up food for dinner not too long after she'd arrived with Hotene—and so, assuming they'd come back and needed help bringing the groceries in, she'd instantly bounced off the dancing mat and into the hallway as if she'd had springs in her feet.

"C'mon and give us a hand, Tene- _tan_!" Rika called out, using the nickname she'd given the tiny Fusion user since the first day they'd been neighbors.

"'M right behind ya, Rika- _tan_!" Hotene had just now seen the incoming message on her Duel Disk, but decided it could wait until after she'd helped Rika's parents out—her parents were always telling her to be helpful to her friends, after all. By the time Hotene had jumped out after her friend, though, Duel Disk still in hand, Rika had already disappeared around the corner for the front door.

That was when everything went wrong.

Hotene was only aware of Rika saying "Who're y—" before the house was filled with a blinding blue light. There was a scream—and suddenly, a tremendous _BANG_ tore through the entire house. Plaster, glass, and wood flew in every direction. An errant chunk of the hallway wall struck Hotene in the shoulder, knocking her to the floor.

For a moment, the diminutive Duelist lay there in pain and total shock. Then, with a force that felt like the whole wall had dropped on her—" _RIKA!_ "

The knowledge that her best friend had been _inside that explosion_ —that she had been the one who'd screamed right before the house had been blown to smithereens—had brought Hotene to her feet, the pain of the impact completely forgotten. Possessed of a strength and speed she never knew she had, she darted past all the debris and into the living room, which now looked as if a bomb had gone off inside it.

But even the nine-year-old Hotene knew this was no bomb blast—and the sight before her proved it. Her eyes barely saw a glimpse of Rika—unconscious and trapped beneath the splintered ruins of a cabinet, blood trickling from a wound on her head—before another, far more terrifying sight greeted her.

Unable to move—unable to speak—the Fusion user could only gaze, horrorstruck, at the remains of the front door … or more precisely, _what_ was behind them …

* * *

 _Thirty seconds earlier_

Yaiba, his body sweating from the brief afternoon workout he'd just finished up with Shen a few minutes ago, had decided to cut through an alleyway on his jog home to save time.

The Synchro user first heard the noise when he'd gone halfway through the alley: it was a brief, muffled _boom_ —loud enough to rattle the windows above him, and making him stop, briefly, to listen intently for the source of the unexpected sound. It reminded him of a transformer explosion that had woken him up roughly a year ago during a bad storm; his house and thousands more had spent the better part of the next day without power. But it couldn't be this, he instantly knew—he hadn't heard the sizzle of electricity that should have come with it—

He stopped. It had only just now occurred to him where that sound had come from—behind and to his left, just along the path he'd come. Maybe about a mile or so away, it sounded like.

 _Shen's shrine_.

Yaiba could practically _hear_ the color draining out of his body. But by the time he'd already thought to go back, it was too late—he'd already seen the shadow that had appear behind him, in the corner of his eye—

He spun around, intending to go back—but that was all he was able to do before an explosion of vivid blue fire tore through the alleyway, knocking him off his feet and into the side of a rubbish bin. Stars danced in Yaiba's eyes as his ears rang with the deafening noise; he felt his mouth open wide, but he could not hear himself screaming in pain—his back had taken the full force of the impact.

Then he'd toppled to the asphalt on all fours—he felt himself biting his lip to ward off the agony—and, breathing heavily, he'd looked up and seen the source of the shadow behind him.

His blood went cold. "Who the … _what the hell are you?!_ "

* * *

 _Thirty seconds earlier_

"Mother?" Fuyu shut the door, his raspy voice scarcely echoing in the planetarium. "Mother? Father? Are you here?"

A stocky man peered up from the stairwell that led to the family's living space. "Hey, Fuyu!" Rokkaku Taiyō said, embracing his son with one hand. "Your mother's just about to finish the last show of the day. I was looking over the sky charts for tonight before I helped her close up. You want to help me out? Maybe you can stargaze with me after dinner, if you're not too busy."

"Sure," Fuyu smiled—but it slid off his face just as quickly. "F-father … did you find out what caused that power bump earlier today?"

"Hmm?" Taiyō looked confused for a moment, before snapping his fingers in realization. "Oh, that. The darnedest thing—all the Solid Vision generators in the neighborhood had just … shut down for some reason. Just about every place in a five-block radius of the planetarium went dark—no Duels, no nothing."

Fuyu bit his lip. "Why?"

Taiyō shrugged. "Your guess is as good as mine," he replied. "I don't suppose you can help shed light on it for me?"

The Xyz Duelist was about to reply, but his Duel Disk had suddenly issued a series of beeps: an email had just been sent to it. Frowning, Fuyu was just about to check on what the message might be saying when he saw his father make for the door.

"Looks like we've got another later visitor," the Xyz Duelist heard Taiyō mutter to himself. "Better tell him we'll be closing in a few minutes … "

A curious Fuyu turned round as his father went past him. His electric blue gaze settled on the door, looking for any newcomers that was approaching—

He saw one just then—and immediately he felt a chill rush down his body. The last time he'd felt a shiver this intense was right around the moment a random LDS student, whose name he did not know, had said that Shijima Hokuto had disappeared. It was the moment that had altered his life forever, and very nearly for the worse—but then, a week later, Masumi and her friends had been able to change all that.

Whatever Fuyu was seeing on the other side of the doorway, he knew, somewhere deep down, that it was _bad news_.

The Xyz user leapt to his feet with an alacrity he never knew his sickly body had in him. "Father," he rasped, "get away from there! That's not—"

But the newcomer had shifted in its stance—and then Fuyu was only aware of a deafening noise that destroyed the door—and all of the wall around it. He heard a shout from Taiyō—and then a strangled yell that must have come from him; his throat was suddenly burning—

He felt a dull THUD on the back of his neck, and belatedly, Fuyu realized he'd scrabbled back against the wall in terror. Fuyu could not see his father anywhere in the dust that was settling in the room; the fire alarms had activated by now, and he could hear shouts of parents and children coming from the hallway leading to the planetarium—

Now the figure he'd seen coming towards his father earlier was coming _right towards him_ —and instantly, Fuyu knew that no one was going to rescue him this time—not even Kōtsu Masumi.

* * *

 _Maiami Ukai-Tei_

 _4:22 P.M._

To the Fusion user, it felt as though the gap between heaven and hell had been crossed between one step and the next. One moment, Masumi was on her way back to her parents' table, her previous lapse in temper mollified upon seeing the note that the upgrade to her Duel Disk Himika had mentioned was now complete. She'd begun to hear her stomach growling, and she hadn't been able to repress a smile as she imagined the food the chef must be cooking in front of their table by now.

Then the growling got louder— _too loud_ , she'd thought. By the time Masumi had taken her next step forward, that growl had turned into a full-on _roar_ —and the Fusion user had noticed too late that it was coming from outside the restaurant.

She whirled around at the front door—and then suddenly, that door had simply _vanished_ ; a single blast of sky-blue light had vaporized the heavy wood into millions of splinters. The patrons nearest the explosion reacted too late—the shockwave had already knocked them back, tables and all, before they'd even had time to cry out.

Pandemonium reigned. Customers were fleeing by the dozen, forming scrums at the emergency exits. Masumi could not find her parents anywhere. She tried to fight her way through to the room where they'd been seated, but the crowds were too thick—too focused on going the other way that she could not fight them.

" _Father!_ " she cried out, but to no avail—the noise was too great for her teenaged voice to be heard above it. " _Mother!_ _Where are you?_ "

By now, the front entrance had completely collapsed, and fires had begun to leap up in the wreckage. The heat was already unbearable; most of the patrons had already fled, and it was after a mere few seconds of searching that Masumi knew she had no choice but to go with them. With any luck, perhaps her parents had been the first to—

 **"** ** _MASUMI!_** **"**

The Fusion user froze. Not because her name was the last thing she'd expected to hear in the collapsing restaurant, but because the voice that had spoken it was unlike any she had ever heard in her life: a distorted, snarling baritone—somewhere between man and machine—that sent shivers up her spine.

Slowly, she turned—and instantly Masumi felt as though her stomach had been dissolved in acid.

Standing across from her was one of the tallest and broadest figures she'd ever seen. It was easily two meters tall, maybe even two and a half, and another meter from shoulder to shoulder, and shrouded head to toe in a black cloak that hid all flesh, even the face, save for a pair of glowing azure eyes that glinted like ice. A metal half-circle of spikes, somehow suspended in midair above the figure's shoulder blades, floated behind him; foot-long piercing edges had been set at either end of this, each one strong enough and sharp enough that they looked as though they could smash through solid rock.

The figure drew closer, and it was only now that Masumi noticed _he was levitating, too_ —bare inches above the ground, but that was enough; instantly, the Fusion user knew that whoever this new arrival was, there was nothing human about him.

 _How is he doing that?!_ the Fusion Duelist wondered in shock.

The figure stopped now, bare meters from where she stood. "You are Masumi Kōtsu?"

A petrified Masumi could only nod.

"My name is Seika," said the floating figure. "I am here because you must be _silenced_."

Masumi felt her breath catch in her throat upon hearing the emphasis placed on the last word. _This freak's saying he wants to kill me?!_ "W-why?!" she could only say.

"Because you know too much about the entity called Q," replied the figure called Seika. "The man called J.D. Crowley knew too much about Q as well." A pause. "So I had to silence _him_ , too."

It was as though the flames all around Masumi had suddenly been extinguished; every inch of her body had broken into a cold sweat at the words Seika had spoken—before promptly evaporating in her sudden surge of raw, unrefined anger.

 _This man … this_ thing _… he's the one who made that Crowley guy disappear?!_ The image of the portal flashed in her mind—and with it, the face of that horrific monster on the other side, whose leering look still made Masumi shiver … and of Crowley, screaming silently and struggling in vain as he was physically dragged away to God only knew where—

 _This all happened because of_ him?!

The C-shaped contraption behind Seika's back was lowering, now, snaking beneath one arm before coming to a halt directly in front of his chest. Masumi, instinctively, had just realized what that contraption might possibly be an instant before the spikes at either end began to glow, creating a scarlet blade along the length of the half-circle that hissed and cracked with hellish flame.

 _A Duel Disk …_ she thought. _Why would he … ?_ "I don't have time to Duel you," she said instantly. "This place will collapse any second now! We're both going to be buried here— _we are going to die!_ "

" _You_ are going to die," corrected Seika in a metallic growl, "precisely when I _intend_ you to die."

And without warning, the semicircular blade of his Duel Disk had flashed with a blinding light. The effect was immediate; instead of a burning orange-yellow, the flames engulfing them had turned a vivid sapphire color. What was more, the creaking and groaning of the collapsing restaurant had faded away, leaving only an eerie silence that Masumi wasn't entirely sure she wanted to break.

"I have stabilized this structure to suit our needs for the time being," Seika said. Before Masumi could even ask how he'd done this, though, her Duel Disk had somehow acted of its own accord: the navy blue device had hummed to life without her even pressing a button. Moments later, the orange blade had lanced along its length—and the Fusion user instantly knew she had no other choice.

 _If I refuse, he's going to stop whatever he's doing—and this whole place will burn to the ground_ , she knew. _Whoever this guy is, he doesn't care about dying with me. I doubt those powers of his will let him, anyway_.

"If I win," she told Seika, as both of them drew five cards, "then you tell me everything about who you are, how you did all this—and especially what nonsense made you think it was a good idea to threaten _me_!"

"One way or the other, you _will_ be silenced," Seika growled back at her. His five cards, Masumi noticed, were now levitating between the spikes of his Duel Disk—more of his powers, she assumed. "So if you want to live for that much longer, I suggest you _get started_."

Masumi felt herself smiling despite the circumstances. "I thought you'd never ask," she said defiantly, hefting her Duel Disk in the traditional ready stance. "DUEL!"

The screen on her Disk abruptly blipped, switching to a layout of the presently empty field with Dueling telemetry around the border: hand size, Deck size, and the normal 4000 Life Points for each Duelist.

"I'll go first, then!" Masumi cried. She'd already had a glimpse of the cards in her hand, and formulated a strategy with which to use them. The overwhelming strength and field presence that had made her the top Fusion Duelist at LDS was doubly paramount here, she knew—if she tried to rely on any field disruption, the structural integrity of this place would be even more at risk than it already was.

Already she was beginning to feel the effects of this dangerous Dueling environment: Seika's efforts—if indeed he had been telling the truth—weren't doing a thing to stop the heat or the smoke from assailing her senses. A thin layer of sweat had already appeared on Masumi's forehead, her eyes were beginning to water, and her exposed skin was starting to feel a little too _crispy_ for her taste.

 _I have to finish this Duel quickly_ , she knew— _I have to make every blow count!_ "I Summon _G-gem-Knight Alexand_ in Attack Position!" she managed to cough out as she slapped a card onto her blade. An instant later, a burly knight had materialized in front of her, its silver armor glinting in the firelight (Level 4: _ATK 1800_ /DEF 1200).

"Now I'll Release _Alexand_ to activate its effect," Masumi went on, swiping several more cards hither and thither, "and Special Summon a _Gem-Knight_ Normal Monster from my Deck! I Special Summon _Gem-Knight Crysta_ in Attack Position!" No sooner had she said this than _Alexand_ vanished from her field in a burst of photonic dust, almost as quickly as it had arrived there—but was just as quickly replaced by an even bigger armored knight, easily the size of Seika (Level 7: _ATK 2450_ /DEF 1950).

"Next"—Masumi raised the pride and joy of her Deck for Seika to see—"I activate the Spell Card: _Gem-Knight Fusion_! I'll use this to fuse the _Gem-Knight Roumaline_ and the _Gem-Knight Obsidia_ in my hand for a Fusion Summon!" Two spectral figures now appeared beside her—one whose armor was as black as night, the other as bright and orange-yellow as the sun—before being sucked into the air, into a portal Masumi could not see for the intensity of the flames that raged around her:

 **"** **Gem tinged with lightning! Sharp jet-black darkness!"** she began to chant. **"In a whirlpool of light, combine to bring forth a new dazzling radiance!"**

 **"** **Fusion Summon! Appear! The one who pursues victory!** ** _Gem-Knight Paz_** **!"**

The flames that surrounded Masumi now leapt back as if stung; moments later, an imposing armored knight, twice as tall as she was, had dropped from the sky—and landed on the field in a three-point formation that shook the ground. The growling _Paz_ twirled its two jagged blades in a complicated dance of death as it stared down Seika with murderous intent (Level 6: _ATK 1800_ /DEF 1800).

"Next, _Gem-Knight Obsidia's_ effect!" Masumi cried. "Whenever it's sent from the hand to the Graveyard—no matter the reason—I can target a Level 4 or lower Normal Monster in my Graveyard, and Special Summon it to my field! So I'll bring back my _Gem-Knight Roumaline_ in Attack Position!"

One swiped card later, and the golden-orange figure of the monster appeared on the other side of _Paz_ (Level 4: _ATK 1600_ /DEF 1800), yellowish lightning crackling from its sturdy arms.

From here, Masumi momentarily weighed the action of whether or not to activate _Gem-Knight Fusion's_ second effect—the one that made her _truly_ skilled at Fusion Summoning—but decided it would be better to wait and see what she drew into to start her next turn. She knew she needed as many monsters in her Graveyard as possible for her strategy to pay off. Her field presence would be more than enough to survive an attack from Seika this turn, she knew—and even that would play into what she had in mind.

So it was that she slipped the last card in her hand—the Trap Card _Gem Enhance_ —face-down onto her field. "I end my turn with that," she said, barely suppressing a cough as more unpleasant smoke invaded her mouth.

Seika, who appeared entirely unfazed by the noxious fumes around the pair of Duelists, wasted no time in acting—he'd drawn his card the moment the words had left Masumi's mouth. "First," he began, "I activate the effect of the Field Spell: _Purgatory Flood_!"

Masumi started—and promptly lapsed into a hacking cough in her surprise. "You—you what?!" she managed to splutter out. "But—but I never saw—"

Then it hit her. "Those blue flames," she said, trying to hide her consternation. "They were more than just part of your powers, aren't they?" For Masumi's keen eyes, so used to watching her father cut and shape precious stones at the jewelry shop he ran, had remembered the way Seika's blade had _flashed_ , right before the fires engulfing the restaurant had changed color—and right before he'd claimed the place was safe enough to Duel inside. Somehow, Seika's Field Spell had done all this—somehow, he'd activated it without the need to place the card on his Duel Disk first, just as Q had done—just as _she_ had done—and Masumi wasn't sure if she was ready to know how much more it could do.

Seika, for his part, declined to provide an answer. " _Purgatory Flood's_ first effect allows me to Special Summon an _Infernoid Token_ during each of my Standby Phases!" he declared; and indeed, the words had barely left his mouth when a gunmetal-gray bulb-like shape had shimmered onto the field (Level 1: _ATK 0_ /DEF 0). It looked rather like one of those plug-like devices that used to power the earliest computers decades in the past, Masumi thought; vacuum tubes—that was what they were.

In the meantime, another part of her mind had latched onto the name _Infernoid_. That must be the theme of his Deck, then, she thought—it would be worth it to see if these monsters were listed in the Duel Monsters database—although she doubted that was the case.

Nor, she added, as a particularly strong cough wracked her insides, did she think she had the time.

"Next—the Continuous Spell: _Purgatory Extinguishment_!" growled Seika. "Once per turn, this card lets me discard a card to add a _Purgatory_ Spell or Trap Card from my Deck to my hand!" He did so, and a card was swiftly lifted, as if conducted by invisible strings, from between two spikes on his Duel Disk and into his Graveyard slot. At the same time, another card had snaked out of his Deck, replacing the discarded card in much the same way its predecessor had left Seika's hand.

"As for the monsters I use—almost all of them have one effect in common," the figure continued. "They may only be Special Summoned by banishing monsters from my hand or my Graveyard while the total Levels and Ranks of all Effect Monsters I control do not exceed 8."

Levels _and_ Ranks?! Masumi frowned at this; that was an oddly specific Summoning procedure for a monster, and an even more odd thing for Seika to tell her now, of all times. Was he an Xyz Duelist like Hokuto and Fuyu, then, that he'd need to justify explain his monsters' effects in such a way? But even if he was, what possible Xyz-focused Deck would require such strange Summoning conditions?

" _Purgatory Flood's_ second effect, however," Seika went on, "allows me to alter their Summoning procedure, and banish monsters on my _field_ as well—including Tokens! I therefore banish my _Token_ to Special Summon an _Infernoid_ monster from my hand via its own effect! Descend! _Infernoid Satan_!"

Something crashed through the blazing roof of the restaurant at that point: a gigantic, vaguely humanoid machine the size of Masumi's _Paz_ (Level 1: _ATK 0_ /DEF 0). Firelight reflected dully off the dark gray metal that served as the figure's armor, while blood-red eyes and the pure-white light from the bulb on its back—the same bulb as the _Token_? a tiny part of Masumi wondered apropos of nothing, as she watched the demonic figure take up an attack stance next to Seika.

" _Infernoid Satan's_ effect!" rumbled the cloaked figure just then. "Once per turn, I can target 1 Set card on the field, and shuffle it into the Deck! And furthermore," he added upon seeing Masumi's rather annoyed expression, "that Set card cannot be activated in response to _Satan's_ effect!"

 _Damn_. Masumi slid _Gem-Enhance_ back into her Deck, fuming. She'd hoped to activate her Set Trap on the off chance _Paz_ had been destroyed by battle this turn. That way, she could have Released her _Roumaline_ —or, in a pinch, her _Crysta_ —to bring _Paz_ right back where it belonged.

"Now, I banish my _Satan_ to Special Summon another _Infernoid_ monster from my hand—via its own effect as well! Descend! _Infernoid Lucifugus_!"

Scarcely had he uttered the monster's name when _Satan_ whirled out of existence—and an instant later, something much bigger had appeared in its place: a mechanical, dragon-like construction that nearly filled the room (Level 3: _ATK 1600_ /DEF 0). The three inky-black bulbs on its back scraped against the burning roof of the restaurant, causing a few timbers to fall a few yards away from where Masumi was standing.

The Fusion user gulped—an action she instantly regretted, as she felt the choking air burn her throat. _I really,_ really _hope I can end this quickly_ , she thought.

"Now, I'll activate _Infernoid Lucifugus'_ effect!" growled Seika. "Once per turn, I can target 1 monster on the field and destroy it, in exchange for preventing _Lucifugus_ from attacking this turn! I choose to target your _Gem-Knight Paz_!"

The Fusion user swore under her breath as _Lucifugus_ opened its jaws, expelling a burst of black fire that seemed to come from the bulbs on its back. The impossible flames enveloped _Paz_ , disintegrating Masumi's Fusion Monster before she could even blink.

"Finally," Seika said, with a tone of such extreme smugness that Masumi wanted to punch him for everything he'd done today, "I banish the _Lucifugus_ on my field and the _Infernoid Asmodai_ in my hand to Special Summon yet another _Infernoid_ via its own effect—and this time, I can Summon it from my _Graveyard_!"

A stunned Masumi watched as _Lucifugus_ —and the brief, faint image of a gigantic demon clad in dark brown, burnished gold, and bright blood-red—vanished from view. The next moment, the Fusion user was forced to leap back as a large portion of the roof collapsed—and behind it, the immense horned head of the largest mechanized horror she'd yet seen in this Duel leered at her from on high, as if it was the face of the devil himself.

"Descend!" Seika cried to the heavens. " _Infernoid Ba'al_!"

Masumi took a few steps back from the maroon-and-gold armored demon (Level 7: _ATK 2600_ /DEF 0), still trying to make sense of everything Seika had done in such a short time. This monster, then, must have been the card he'd discarded to activate his _Purgatory Extinguishment_ —and it was different from the _Infernoids_ he'd Summoned up till then, as those could only be Summoned from the _hand_.

Seika meant to put this in the Graveyard, she'd realized—he'd meant to Summon it from there, for an unexpected beatstick that could take on any one of the monsters on Masumi's field right now—and win.

The Fusion user grimaced. This Deck—these _Infernoids_ —were starting to look very dangerous. And, more perplexing still, she had yet to figure out just _what_ its focus was meant to be.

"Battle Phase!" Seika growled. " _Infernoid Ba'al_ —attack _Gem-Knight Roumaline_!"

What happened next was grisly, but thankfully brief: the horned head of _Ba'al_ darted down upon the hapless _Roumaline_. There was a grating, squealing CRUNCH of metal against metal—and the last Masumi saw of her monster was its crushed remains hanging from the demon's jaws. Moments later, _Ba'al_ had swallowed—and then, just as quickly, vomited the mangled armor right at Masumi.

The Fusion Duelist braced herself—she knew this was only Solid Vision, but that didn't stop the wind from getting knocked of her as _Roumaline's_ remnants pelted her body. Such was the pain that she barely noticed her Life Point gauge falling to 3000—the attack that had hit her had felt very, very real.

 _Seika must have switched off the safety systems somehow_ , she realized. _That's why I'm still Dueling here—the safeties would have canceled this Duel the moment a Duelist was in mortal danger!_

She set her jaw. _Why, though? Why would he go to all this trouble just to corner_ me?!

" _Infernoid Ba'al's_ effect," Seika was saying in the meantime. "At the end of the Battle Phase, if it attacked this turn, I can banish 1 monster on the field—for instance, your Gem-Knight _Crysta_!"

Masumi's curse was drowned out by several more timbers from the restaurant's roof finally giving in to the heat and flame, and collapsing to the ground with a groaning crash. At the same time, _Ba'al's_ head had risen out of view—right before something long and thin, like a spear, had appeared out of nowhere, impaling _Crysta_ square in the chest. Like a fly in its death throes, the gigantic knight twitched and writhed against the weapon, trying its hardest to break free, but the blade of the spear suddenly flashed—and all of a sudden, _Crysta_ vanished with a swirl of light, as if that spear had sucked him right into it, leaving nothing behind but an eerie silence amidst the roaring blaze around them.

"I Set two cards, then, and end my turn," Seika finished, as two cards floated into slots within the spiked blade hovering before his chest. Moments later, their Solid Vision duplicates appeared either side of his Continuous Spell, before fading from view just as quickly.

Masumi, despondent as she glanced at her completely empty field, nevertheless knew deep down that she had no choice but to keep going—even though she wanted desperately to find out who this Seika was, and what he was thinking with the Deck he was using and with assaulting Crowley—perhaps even _murdering_ him, she thought in distress. The notion that she might indeed be facing a murderer was making her more and more tempted to ask Seika for any kind of motive to his actions so far—to ask why he had done what he did—but she also knew that if she spent too much time in this collapsing restaurant, then the next bit of burning roof could very well fall down on her _head_.

"My t-turn, then," she coughed out, drawing her next card. A quick look at that card nearly sent her into another prolonged hacking fit—but for the best possible reason! Seika was about to realize he'd made a big mistake in merely sending her _Paz_ to the Graveyard—instead of banishing it like he had her _Crysta_.

 _Forget_ Gem-Knight Fusion, she thought, concealing a grin— _this can win me the Duel here and now!_ "I activate a Continuous Spell of my own: _Brilliant Fusion_!" she cried, swiping the card in question on her Duel Disk. "I can use this to fuse monsters from my Deck to the Graveyard, but its ATK and DEF both become 0! So I'll fuse my _Gem-Knight Iola_ , _Gem-Knight Amber_ , _and_ my _Gem-Knight Sanyx_ from my Deck—so that I can Summon _this_!"

As she spoke, the shades of three different monsters appeared above her—one in armor of blue, another of yellow, and a third of red—rising upwards past the hole in the sky where _Ba'al_ had made its entrance. There was a flash of multicolored light—and a churning drone that all but drowned out Masumi's chanting:

 **"** **Crystal of eternal ice! Stone of golden ages! Gem of crimson fire! In a whirlpool of light, combine to bring forth a new dazzling radiance!"**

A lance of blinding white light blossomed onto the field, but Masumi still continued to declare:

 **"** **Fusion Summon! This is my true ace—the dazzling** ** _Gem-Knight Lady Brilliant Dia_** **!"**

The earthshaking THUD that followed nearly unseated her into a pile of smoldering debris, but Masumi managed to keep her footing. The column of light faded, now, allowing the Fusion user to see the scintillating armor of the gigantic knight on her field (Level 10: _ATK 3400 » 0_ /DEF 2000 » 0).

"That's not going to do you much good against my _Ba'al_ ," observed Seika. The smugness in his voice was palpable; were it not for her conviction that she'd just won this Duel, Masumi would have punched him right in his cloaked face.

" _Brilliant Dia's_ effect," she smirked. "Once per turn, I can send a _Gem-Knight_ monster I control to the Graveyard, and then Special Summon a _Gem-Knight_ Fusion Monster from my Deck, ignoring its Summoning conditions! And I know just the monster to destroy you this turn!" she yelled.

If Seika showed any concern for her words or actions, he did not show it—he merely continued to hover where he was, several inches off the ruined carpet of the Maiami Ukai-tei—but that only made Masumi all the more intent on finishing off this Duelist once and for all.

"I send my _Brilliant Dia_ to the Graveyard—and then I'll Special Summon _Gem-Knight Master Dia_!" she cried out. At once, her ace monster flared like a supernova, disintegrating into its residual photons in an instant. But just as quickly, however, those particles began to reform into an equally imposing, equally bedazzling monster; slightly shorter in height, but much broader at the shoulder, _Master Dia_ stepped forward with a low growl and a swing of his massive sword that promised a great amount of pain (Level 9: _ATK 2900_ /DEF 2500).

"My _Master Dia's_ effect grants it 100 ATK for every _Gem-_ monster in my Graveyard," Masumi explained, watching its ATK gauge rise to 3600, "but more importantly, it allows me to banish a Level 7 or lower Gem-Knight Fusion monster from my Graveyard, and allow Master Dia to gain its name and its effects until the End Phase of the turn!"

"Meaning the _Gem-Knight Paz_ my _Ba'al_ destroyed," Seika said dismissively. "So what?"

Masumi's grin reached frightening levels of wideness and intensity. " _So_ ," she continued to smirk, " _Gem-Knight Paz'_ effect allows it to not only attack twice per Battle Phase—but also to inflict damage to my opponent equal to the ATK of any monster it destroys by battle!

"In other words, Seika— _this Duel's over_!" Masumi shrieked, ignoring the burning sensation in her throat from the smoke and heat. "Battle Phase! _Gem-Knight Master Dia_! Attack _Infernoid Ba'al_ —and _make its master wish he'd_ _ **never been born!**_ "

She watched, with the immense satisfaction of a job well done, as one of the multicolored gems on _Master Dia's_ immense swordblade glowed at that point—exactly the same shade of yellow-orange as the armor of Masumi's _Paz_. One second later, the light that poured from the gem now spread along the length of the blade—

"Double Continuous Trap: activate!" Seika cried out at that moment. " _Awakened Purgatory_ and _Rising Purgatory_!" But even as both of the cards he'd Set the previous turn were activated, Masumi saw no change to the game state on her Duel Disk—so whatever those Trap Cards were meant to do, they hadn't done it … at least, not yet.

Not that it really mattered at this point—because one second later, _Master Dia_ had swung its sword in an overhead arc that cleaved right through what remained of the restaurant's roof. A deafening roar of agonizing pain followed this, and Masumi instantly knew the blow had struck true as she watched Seika's LP gauge fall to 3100—but she wasn't done yet.

For just moments later, the bus-sized face of _Ba'al_ had crashed through the roof, sending debris flying everywhere and causing flames to leap dozens of meters into the air, giving the demon's severed head an incredibly nightmarish appearance. But Seika still refused to be jolted by the shockwave of his monster's destruction, even as it sent his Life Points spiraling into the red zone—before finally stopping at a dangerously low 500.

"Now—finish him off!" Masumi's vision was beginning to blur from all the smoke and tears in her eyes, and her throat felt as dry and parched as a desert. But even now, she could still taste the victory that awaited her; _Master Dia_ was raising its blade again, ready to cleave Seika in twain right down the middle—

But something was happening to the Fusion Monster; its armor was beginning to gleam more and more brightly with each passing moment. And it wasn't just _Master Dia_ , either; a similar transformation was being observed in the hard-light corpse of _Infernoid Ba'al_.

Masumi's smile faded a little. _What's going—?_

That was when, without any warning whatsoever, her monster contorted and expanded into oblivion, its hard-light body nowhere to be seen. As the Fusion user's jaw dropped open in utter shock—causing her to cough even more—she only just noticed the vast carcass of _Ba'al_ disappearing from view, in much the same way.

"And that would be the _second_ effect of my _Purgatory Extinguishment_ ," Seika explained. "If an _Infernoid_ monster I control battles an opponent's monster, I can send it to the Graveyard. Then, after I take damage from that battle—if any—both of the monsters that battled are banished."

 _Damn it!_ Masumi stamped her foot in barely restrained anger. She'd been so close to victory—so close to ending this Duel quickly enough to escape this collapsing hellhole. But Seika and his bizarre Deck had outwitted her yet again—now it was going to take much, much longer for this Duel to reach its conclusion.

At least he doesn't have any cards in his hand, either, she thought ruefully. "I end my turn," she grunted, still seething over the unexpected turn their Duel had taken.

Seika, on the other hand, merely laughed as his newly drawn card floated onto his Duel Disk. "Since it is my Standby Phase," he said, "I now activate the effect of _Purgatory Flood_ , and Special Summon another _Infernoid Token_ to my field." And sure enough, a bulb-like object materialized in front of him, exactly the same as the first one ( _Level 1_ : ATK 0/DEF 0).

"Then," Seika continued, "my first Continuous Trap, _Awakening Purgatory_ , lets me send 2 _Infernoid_ monsters from my Deck to the Graveyard during each of my Standby Phases. I send my _Infernoid Astaroth_ and _Infernoid Adramelech_."

 _Okay—so now he's doing Deck destruction_ , Masumi thought. She still could not get a read on what Seika's _Infernoids_ were designed to do, but it looked as though they required having a steady supply of monsters in the hand and Graveyard to banish, in order to fulfill the strange Summoning conditions of their monsters. _Which means the card he just drew must be one of those monsters_.

"Next—my second Continuous Trap, _Rising Purgatory_ , lets me target 1 of my banished _Infernoid_ monsters, and return it to my Graveyard," Seika went on. "I'll return the _Infernoid Asmodai_ I banished to Summon my _Ba'al_ during my previous turn."

He did so. "And finally," he growled, "I'll Summon the Tuner monster _Infernoid Dekatron_ in Attack Position!"

Masumi's mouth fell open. _A Tuner monster?! But—that could only mean—_

A shadow fell across her—the faintest change in light, nothing noticeable against the hellish flames that surrounded her. But she assumed that had to be this _Dekatron_ , judging by the ATK gauge that had just flickered on her screen (Level 1: _ATK 500_ /DEF 200)—although it looked as though this was all she was going to get of it; it was either too high up or too big for her to see anything more of that monster.

Even so, however, her mind was racing at lightning speed—in a single move, Seika's Deck had suddenly become more inexplicable than ever. Only Synchro Duelists had any real need of Tuner monsters—for only through them could a Synchro Monster be Summoned—yet Seika hadn't Synchro Summoned even once during this whole Duel. Perhaps he was looking to do so during this turn, Masumi thought—but then there was his _other_ declaration of how his monsters needed both Levels _and_ Ranks to be lower than 8.

Because of this, she couldn't come to a decision—was Seika an Xyz Duelist? A Synchro Duelist? Or was his _Infernoid_ Deck so truly unique that he could make use of _both_ Summoning methods—something virtually unheard of, even among the most elite students of the Leo Duel School?

" _Infernoid Dekatron's_ effect," Seika announced just then. "When it is Normal or Special Summoned, I can send an _Infernoid_ monster from my Deck to the Graveyard—then, _Dekatron_ increases its Level by the sent monster, and also gains its name and effects! I send the Level 6 _Infernoid Belphegor_ —and then, since the total Levels of _Dekatron_ and my _Token_ exactly equal 8, I can banish them both from my field to Special Summon that same _Belphegor_ from the Graveyard by its own effect! Descend!"

The shadow above Masumi lifted at the precise moment that the bulb-shaped Token disappeared from Seika's field. In its place, however, had materialized yet another demonic figure, the largest Masumi had yet seen in terms of size—indeed, so large was it that all she could see of it was its flat, ugly head of blue and gray metal, peering through the collapsing roof with a leering grin (Level 6: _ATK 2400_ /DEF 0).

"Now, then," Seika purred, in a voice that sent chills through Masumi's body, in spite of the hellish environment, "I think you'll find _this_ especially appropriate. I banish my _Infernoid Astaroth_ and my _Infernoid Asmodai_ to Special Summon this from my Graveyard, via its own effect!"

Masumi felt her insides dissolve. He'd had two such monsters in his Graveyard that whole time? She stared up at the sky, slowly backing away—starting to get the idea she should run away _now_.

 _I just lost_ , she thought, feeling utterly hopeless; there were no ways out of the inferno that her eyes could make out. _I just lost this Duel … and maybe even my life …_

Then she saw the new shadow above her, tearing through the roof, and knew instantly why Seika had chosen to Summon this new arrival: it was exactly the same monster she had seen destroying testing bay three in the security footage Q had pulled up—the exact same monster that had taken J.D. Crowley, the unfortunate programmer who'd been in the wrong place at the wrong time.

"Descend!" bellowed Seika. " _Infernoid Adramelech_!"

Masumi, feeling anger and fear alike boiling inside her body, bit her lip until the blood flowed at the sight of the demon towering above her, a winged monstrosity whose appearance placed it somewhere between horse and bird (Level 8: _ATK 2800_ /DEF 0). Breathing heavily, she set her gaze firmly on Seika, refusing to even blink in the face of her tormentor—her vanquisher.

If she was to die tonight, then she would not die a coward.

"Battle Phase!" Seika screamed to the heavens. " _Infernoid Belphegor_! _Infernoid Adramelech_! Put an end to this farce of a battle— ** _attack Masumi Kōtsu's Life Points directly!_** "

The jaws of both demons opened wide, and hellfire spilled from their jaws with all the force of a waterfall. Masumi's gaze did not waver from Seika's, even as the final attack connected with her—but the shockwave hit with such force that she felt herself blasted backward by an immense force, the scale of which had never before felt in her life. So far did Masumi fly from the force of the assault that it felt as though gravity itself had taken leave of its duties—it was as though she was falling sideways.

Her next few moments were little more than a blinding blur of blue and orange light that consumed her vision, a torrent of sound so deafening that she could not make out the thin scream of her Duel Disk—announcing the total depletion of her LP gauge—or her own scream as her body hurtled through the air—

 _WHAM_.

Masumi felt something wet trickling from her mouth as something big collided with her body—or rather, as her body collided with something big. Though she did not know it, that something had been the opposite exterior wall of the restaurant, its structural integrity so weakened from the raging fire that it yielded almost no resistance to the defeated Duelist crashing into it.

Then, the blur of light and sound disappeared, and the next thing the Fusion user felt was her broken body skidding to a halt in the parking lot outside. She was aware of many flashing lights—a mixture of red, yellow, and blue—and then just as many raised voices, before the sensory overload and the physical stress of the Duel finally claimed her.

The last thing Masumi remembered, before the darkness closed in around her, was the sight of two shadows crouching down over her body. She could not hear what they were saying—the roars of the inferno, and of the monsters she had seen inside, still rang in her ears like a symphony of mass destruction. It sounded like it might have been her name …

Then, two pairs of hands, much softer than she'd been expecting, crept under her, and suddenly she knew.

 _…_ _Mother? … Father?_

But by then, unconsciousness had taken her, and she knew nothing more.

* * *

"Masumi! Masumi, can you hear me?! Please, Masumi … please … !"

"Ma'am, you need to step back—this girl's in bad shape. We have to get her to hospital _now_!"

"That girl is my daughter! Please—I can't just _leave her again!_ "

The paramedics glanced at each other as they carefully placed the teenager onto a gurney. "We understand that, ma'am," said one of them, "but her life is in danger—we need to get her stabilized immediately!"

"You're more than welcome to accompany us to the hospital," added the other, "but I'm afraid we can't let you see her until then. It's going to be crowded enough where she's going—and she's not the only one, either."

The badly singed man next to the disconsolate woman—who had to be her husband, the paramedics guessed—laid a comforting hand on her shoulder. "They're right," he said quietly. "All we're going to do is get in their way—and they're the only ones who can help Masumi now."

The woman let out a loud wail at this. The paramedics, meanwhile, exchanged a glance with one another, before turning to the husband. "Do you have a vehicle you can follow us in?" one of them offered.

He shook his head. "Not anymore … " he replied sadly. "It got damaged in the fire … "

The other paramedic nodded. "I understand, sir." He muttered something into his radio. "I've asked for another car to take you both there," he said a few moments later. "I'm sorry, but that's the best I can do—they're swamped with work as it is."

The husband drew back. "What do you mean?"

"Sir, this was not an isolated incident," the paramedic said. "There's been reports of other explosions in the city just like the one that happened here—and we've got reports of heavy casualties from just about every one of them."

The man's jaw fell open. Even his wife had stopped crying now, joining him in a horrified look. They stayed that way for long after their daughter had been wheeled into the ambulance, and started for the nearest hospital, siren whining all the way. So deep was their shock that they did not move until a pair of policemen motioned them to their vehicle, which took off in its wake moments later.

Behind them, meanwhile, the fire department had finally arrived, far too late. Their blaring sirens mixed with the surge of water that sprayed from the nozzles now trained on the blazing wreck of the restaurant.

No one knew who might still be inside—nor did anyone want to know. And even if someone was, there was little doubt they would survive for long.

* * *

 _Leo Duel School_

 _4:35 P.M._

All was quiet in Chairwoman Akaba's office as the sun began its trek to the western horizon. The owner of the airy space hadn't moved since she'd first learned just how badly recent events had spiraled out of control—for what felt like the first time in her life.

The slightest of movements distracted her just then, but Himika did not turn around—there was no point in asking who had intruded upon her solitude, for only one could do so without permission.

"Current status report." Her voice was terse, utterly devoid of emotion.

"Official casualty lists from the authorities haven't yet come in," said her aide, Nakajima, as he glanced at the tablet in his hand, "and eyewitness evidence is still contradictory. But preliminary reports suggest there may be as many as thirty people dead, and another sixty injured. Several dozen more are still unaccounted for. Mayor Sawatari is already petitioning the Japanese government for a nationwide day of mourning."

Each number felt like a dull blow to her stomach—but still Himika stood firm. She had remained the unmoving rock when children had been taken from their midst in the Maiami Championship, and she would continue to stay resolute today.

"What about the LID?"

Nakajima tensed. " … I'm still waiting on word from my sources," he replied. "However, I do know at least one of them is already _en route_ to Maiami City General. Kōtsu Masumi was in the commercial sector—the restaurant that collapsed a few minutes ago. Paramedics claim she's in critical condition—smoke inhalation, second-degree burns, minor to moderate trauma on approximately sixty percent of her body." He shuddered. "If it was just one of those, I'd imagine she could survive. But _all of them at once_ … " He bowed his head. "They've yet to stabilize her. I couldn't tell you how long that might take."

Himika still did not move. "And the others?"

Nakajima shook his head. The message was clear: _I wish I knew_.

Silence reigned in the office for a minute that seemed to pass as slowly as a millennium. Then: "And Q?"

A pause. "I've already spoken with Shirai," said Nakajima. "He's shutting down the prototype mainframe pending a full diagnostic of its systems, but … " He hesitated—a rare event for someone of his station.

Himika, of course, was far too sharp to let this go unnoticed. "But what?"

Nakajima swallowed. "Chairwoman … with respect, I simply don't know what we're going to say to the citizens about this. The press will want a public statement from you—and I suspect it won't stop there."

Himika bit her lip. "We do what we did at the Championship: we tell them the truth—or at least, as much of it as the public deserves to know," she said. "As far as they should be concerned, this was a _terrorist attack_ , plan and simple—a cowardly assault committed by a foe who would seek to take advantage of an entity embroiled in an effort to bring peace to the land."

She set her jaw. "Mark my words, Nakajima—LDS will not stand for this. I will find who committed this atrocity—I will pursue them throughout the Dimensions if need be—and I _will_ bring them to justice."

"But what if people start asking about who or what the entity responsible actually is?" demanded Nakajima. "If that investigation begins in earnest, it will lead them right to—"

"—to nothing they deserve to know about," Himika interrupted forcefully. "Project #1610217 is a classified matter—and as acting Chair of LeoCorp, _I_ will decide whether or not it _stays that way_."

"But we have no _proof_ ," said Nakajima. "I already know who you want to blame for this—and I can't say I disagree with you for wanting to pin the blame on _them_ ," he conceded hurriedly, as he saw Himika open her mouth. "And for all we know, you may well be right—but that's exactly my point. _We know very little_ —this is still a baseless accusation to make!

"And on the off chance it turns out we're wrong," he added, "Public Relations will get dragged through the mud person by person. The Leo Duel School—and the Leo Corporation with it—will be a worldwide laughingstock at best, an outright _pariah_ at worst, and either way, our reputation will take a hit from which I'm not sure we'd be able to recover."

Himika did not speak for a long time. She continued gazing out of the window, at the columns of smoke that continued to rise from the city. By now, fire crews would have put out the worst of the blazes—but this was far from the end of it. Somehow, Himika knew what had happened today was only the beginning.

 _What would you have done, Reiji?_ But even as the question came to her, the Chairwoman knew she was not her son—but she envied the boy for how much more personable he was to the city, and the whole world. A champion Duelist who'd mastered every Summoning method known to mankind, a shrewd strategist with a reputation for having backup plans for his backup plans—and most of all, a genuine desire to protect not only his company, but his _home_.

Himika was fully aware she had none of the traits of her son; her corporate background had fashioned her into someone much more ruthless—more _scheming_. Her desire stemmed not from wanting to protect, but from a wish to conquer—to _control_. And so much had spiraled out of control in the past fifteen minutes that she was finding herself with very few avenues of help to turn to.

After another long period of silence, she turned away from the window at last to focus on Nakajima. "Have public relations contact the mayor's office, the Maiami City authorities—all the relevant channels. Inform them that the Leo Corporation is conducting our own investigation per company charter, and that we will willingly work alongside the authorities' own efforts, if such be needed."

Nakajima looked apprehensive. "You're going to tell them about Q?"

"No more than they need to know," said Himika. "As far as the press should be concerned, the Solid Vision systems throughout the city were hijacked by an unknown entity for the purpose of assailing innocent citizens. This attack occurred when the Leo Corporation delivered a minor software patch to all of its students' Duel Disks that would have decreased the time needed to link with the nearest RSV generator. It was at that moment that the signal we sent was hijacked, which led to … subsequent events," she finished, not wanting to say anything about casualties or loss of life—that would have to come later, for the inevitable slew of questions that followed her public statement.

Nakajima, meanwhile, nodded—though he still looked apprehensive. "You think they'll buy that story? Someone could read in between the lines of all that. Only a really skilled hacker could have done this, Chairwoman—someone who'd gained access to the Solid Vision network. And there aren't many people outside our company who have that kind of access. If we tell the press that we're conducting an internal investigation, they may suss out the truth—they may learn that LDS, however indirectly, was responsible for everything that happened today."

"The _truth_ is that the Solid Vision systems were compromised," said Himika through clenched teeth. "Those systems are the property of LeoCorp. _We_ were the ones who commissioned them— _we_ were the ones who paid the city council out of our own pockets to have them constructed all over town. We are duty-bound to investigate this ourselves, Nakajima. Any journalist with half a brain should know this."

"Suing for libel won't stop all of them if they don't," said her aide bleakly.

"I'm hoping it won't have to come to that," said Himika. "Because you're right—the reputation of our institution is on the line here. One lawsuit at the wrong time could undermine any efforts at damage control. We'd be fighting two enemies at once—winning against one would ensure we lost to the other."

She checked her phone. "We should probably start on our way down," she said. "The first of the news crews is probably camped out by the front door already."

Himika left the office, then, with Nakajima close behind. "What about the LID?" he wanted to know. "They're going to have to know the truth sooner or later."

Himika knew this. "You can tell the press that I'll be visiting them personally. Tonight, even. But they _must not know they exist_ , Nakajima. Too many people are already worried that we've sent children to a war—if anyone finds out about the LID, those people will finally have all the ammunition they need to abandon their confidence in us."

Nakajima considered this. "All right. I'll contact the hospital's senior vice president of general counsel. He's a friend of mine—he and I can ensure that a private ward's set up for the LID, and that effective immediately, there's a press blackout throughout Maiami General until further notice. No reporters go through without their authorization without prior approval. I think everyone will agree," he added, "that those kids have been through enough damage already, and their parents enough grief, without the media having to breathe down their necks at every turn."

"Agreed," said Himika as they entered the elevator, and the doors closed around them. "Send word to our medical department as well—perhaps we can help speed up their recovery with some of the experimental technology they've been working on. I want those kids on their feet as soon as possible—because the moment they are, they're going to help us find out _who_ did this, and _why_ ," she growled.

"And what if it's not that simple?" said Nakajima. "Healing broken skin is one thing. Healing broken bones is another. And that's not getting into God-only-knows what else they went through in there. We can't discount the possibility that one or more of them might be … " He did not finish his sentence.

"I'm hoping we'll know soon enough," Himika replied. "Their Duel Disks are LeoCorp property as well. They may contain a record of whatever happened to them."

Nakajima frowned. "They don't have cameras installed."

"No," said Himika. "But they do have access to them. It isn't just the RSV generators they're connected to, now."

"Which is why I'm glad Shirai deactivated Q," said Nakajima. "If the LID learned he'd—"

Himika spun around so forcefully that even the stoic aide backed against the wall. A tense silence fell between the two adults, and so heavy was it that it felt like the elevator was dropping faster than usual.

When the LDS Chairwoman next spoke, her voice was deadly soft. "Nakajima … you have been my closest confidante outside of my own son," she said, "so I will pardon your statement this one time."

Her words were layered with enough ice to freeze the Arctic all over again. "But if you ever, _ever_ insinuate that my own son might have had a hand in this senseless, _monstrous_ tragedy again," she hissed, "I will personally ensure that you never find work within eyesight of an LDS institution for the _rest of your days_."

She pulled back. "I hope I have made myself _sufficiently clear_."

To his credit, Nakajima recovered quickly from the verbal onslaught—certainly much quicker than a normal man would have. "Forgive me, Chairwoman," he said, clearing his throat and bowing in deference to her. "I realize what I said was out of place, and for that you have my apologies."

Sycophantic he might have sounded, but Himika knew Nakajima too well for that—he genuinely did feel remorse for overstepping his bounds the way he had. Her silent response, meanwhile, was enough for Nakajima to know that his apology had been accepted, and the pair did not speak any further until the elevator had opened up to the ground floor.

Himika and Nakajima saw the sea of news crews waiting for them, on the other side of the glass doors. The two exchanged looks that said many things, yet nothing at all—such was the relationship they shared.

 _Here we go_ , thought the Chairwoman as they crossed the threshold. Instantly, the babbling roar of the masses reached their ears, and the reporters broke upon them like the waves of an ocean …

* * *

Meanwhile, in another part of the city, inside a hospital ward blocked off by orderlies and policemen alike, five beds had been hastily erected on the sterile floor. Each one was surrounded by a veritable armory of medical equipment—IV drips, heart monitors, and more.

On each of these beds lay a child—unmoving and unresponsive. Some were older, some were younger—some strong in mind, others strong in body—and some that lacked strength in either, or perhaps possessed great strength in some other trait, unquantifiable by the wonders of modern medicine. Yet though a cursory look at these five children might have revealed very little in common with one another, they did share some similarities.

Including the charred, singed, warped Duel Disks that were still secured to their wrists, unnoticed under the sheets that covered their bodies from the neck down—Duel Disks that were somehow still functional despite the abuse they'd been put through, as shown by the screens that had suddenly switched on:

 **INPUT AUTHORIZATION CODE**

 **…**

 **M1610217**

 **…**

 **ACCESS GRANTED**

 **…**

 **DELETE SPECIFIED DATA? Y/N**

 **…**

 **…**

 **…**

 **DUEL TELEMETRY 162200-162522JST HAS BEEN DELETED**

Then the screens faded to black once again—and elsewhere, deep underground, all record of what had been done was swiftly deleted as well.

* * *

 **A/N: For a long while, I debated giving each of the LID their own Duel against this new villain so as to flesh out each character a little more, rather than just have it all take place from Masumi's point of view. I eventually decided against it, for the simple reason that it would just be an unnecessary amount of padding—in my mind, more of those Duels would add no real substance to the plot, nor would any of their interactions with Seika set them apart in any appreciable way. Better to use the imagination for those particular battles, I think.**

 **That said, if there's enough desire to see each one of them facing Seika, I might consider adding their Duels in as "bonus chapters" of sorts. Foregone conclusions they may be, but I can't help but think it'd be intriguing to find out how each of their Decks matched up in a 1v1 against an** ** _Infernoid_** **Deck.**

 **Let me know what you think about this—drop me a line down below with your thoughts, if you so desire. In the meantime, thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoy! – K**


	6. VI

VI

 _4:50 P.M._

The press conference had been brief—perhaps _too_ brief; Himika had had to put a rare sense of urgency into her step as Nakajima escorted her to a waiting car. A dozen burly security officers had formed a human cordon behind her, restricting the sea of reporters and flashing cameras from getting too close to the duo.

The television in Himika's car had been turned on ever since Nakajima had gunned the engine; every few seconds, the headmistress of LDS was flipping through channels, gauging what was fast becoming the breaking story throughout every major network around the world: " _… thirty-two people currently believed dead … schoolchildren confirmed among the injured and deceased … further details as yet unclear … casualty reports expected to trend upward … currently awaiting official statement from mayor's office …_ "

None of the news reports mentioned what she and the others had discovered before the statement of her own she'd given to the assembled press outside. She'd been especially careful not to; Nakajima hadn't been lying in his belief that a leak of that magnitude could spell the end of LeoCorp—and possibly of LDS.

As her right hand gripped the remote a little tighter to change the channel yet again, Nakajima spoke from the driver's seat. "What are they saying?" asked the aide.

"More of the same," was Himika's dismissive reply. "If they knew what we did, there'd be a much different story making the airwaves right now."

"Have you been checking _all_ the news outlets?"

Himika glanced at the tablet held in her left hand, and the lines of text displayed on the screen, constantly scrolling downwards every five seconds or so. "I started a search spider the moment we left." That had been ten minutes ago. "Nothing yet on the major outlets, of course. I'm also checking conspiracy sites, web forums—everyone big and small is still in the dark until we say otherwise."

"We'll have to see how long that lasts," Nakajima said as he maneuvered the car through traffic. "We can't count on the LID to keep our secret under wraps forever."

"They won't have to," Himika sighed—she'd had this conversation before. "They just need to keep it under wraps _long enough_." She tore her eyes away from the tablet to address Nakajima. "Talking of the LID—is that package we discussed en route?"

"Already sent it out." Nakajima spared a moment to check the clock in the car. "Should arrive at Maiami General before we do. My contact inside will let me know once he's received it intact."

"Tell him to hold off administration pending our arrival," Himika ordered. "Let them proceed as normal until we find out whether we need to take the lengths we proposed."

There was a pause, during which Nakajima took the time to gun the car ahead of a slow-moving van so as to merge into the next lane.

"I won't quibble over ethics with you, Headmistress," the aide said hesitantly a few moments later. "I know you well enough that they're more like guidelines to someone such as yourself. Nevertheless, I still feel compelled to remind you that we are looking at the possibility of messing with more than just a person's mind this time. We're talking about the intent to interfere with their _natural biology_ with a substance that has only gone through a few test trials since it was first conceived."

"Your point?"

Another pause. "Let's just say that the war ended tomorrow," Nakajima continued. "Let's say there was no further need of the LID after that, and so the organization is dissolved, allowing its students to go back to the lives they led previously. Maybe in the near future, they'll go back to entering tournaments and championships to represent the Leo Duel School on the national and global stage, as they did before."

Himika said nothing.

"As you're well aware, it's not just Dueling prowess that judges whether or not they let you in to these tournaments," continued Nakajima. "Since these are Action Duels, physical prowess has to be taken into account as well." He glanced at Himika for a brief a moment as the clear road ahead let him. "That includes _medical examinations_ , Headmistress."

Himika chewed her lip as she processed this. The thought of _Duel Monsters_ requiring the equivalent of doping tests was an ill one indeed. In the minds of many, Dueling wasn't just a card game, it was a fully-fledged sport—and as long as any sport existed, so too would methods of bending or breaking the rules to increase one's performance within that sport. As rules were changed or advancements in play developed, rule-breakers would adjust their strategies accordingly. People started counting cards, and Duel Disks were patched to examine and reject any unofficial or altered cards. They started stacking Decks, and auto-shuffle functions were introduced. Most recently, the LID had encountered entities that could alter the playing field itself without the aid of any cards whatsoever—a throwback to the earliest days of the game, when the location on the field of the monsters you played was just as important as the monsters themselves.

Now, today, with Action Duels having become the next big thing in the world's most popular pastime, the notion that one of the most prominent figures in modern _Duel Monsters_ might be responsible for creating an entirely new method of rule-bending within the game she herself was helping to revolutionize was festering in her mind.

The last thing Himika wanted was to give in to her base instinct, and give her side an unfair advantage over the forces of Academia. But that was to think like _them_ , she thought bitingly. She did not desire to lower herself to the likes of the enemy—to _him_. Neither, however, was she an idealist, someone who thought like a child. For Himika knew all too well that sometimes, the "good guys" had to resort to methods and tactics no self-proclaimed hero would dare consider. Some might start to fight fire with fire. Others might start to look at the benefits of fighting their battles _off_ the battlefield rather than _on_ it. But eventually, all heroes would eventually discover a way to bend the rules in order to come out on top—something that Masumi had begun to grasp just last month, and even more so following her Duel with Q earlier today.

She knew Nakajima was right to voice his suspicions—but Himika was confident in what the developers of the package currently inbound for Maiami City General Hospital would serve its purpose with no ill effects. Preliminary trials had already been conducted, they had said—the effects were not meant to be long-lasting in any way, let alone permanent, and therefore were not designed to be used as an illicit aid in Duels.

Then again, Himika knew, they were simply researchers, and this was being administered to people that—however noteworthy their accomplishments, or formidable their Dueling skill—yet remained children. Neither party operated on the same level of thought as Akaba Himika; Masumi and the others did not yet possess the kind of mind that would be needed to guide LDS, and LeoCorp with it, to victory.

Thus, she had made her decision before the press conference from earlier had even concluded—and, if there were any objections, Masumi and the others would hear her reasoning for it.

Eventually.

"Examinations won't be necessary," she replied to Nakajima after a moment's consideration. "I've placed my trust in LeoCorp Medical—that should be enough for them."

Nakajima shrugged, but it was evident that he still harbored a few misgivings about this entire venture. However, he hadn't needed that confrontation in the elevator to know that it was not his place to protest the decisions of his superior—only to offer his input and advice when needed.

"I sent our _other_ package with it, by the way," he said. "I suppose I don't have to ask if you're ready?"

For the faintest moment, Himika's fingers brushed against the tip of her left earring, just enough for her to feel the telltale indentations in the silver metal. There was no need for her to reply; Nakajima, perceptive as ever, had seen her movements in the rearview mirror, and knew.

Neither of them spoke for the remainder of the trip to the hospital—and even then, it was with the barest minimum of interaction that Nakajima gave the car to a valet, before heading inside with Himika.

* * *

Ten minutes later, as the yellowing rays of setting sun streamed through the blinds of a secured hospital ward, both adults stood at the door to the ward, watching a doctor take out a vial of neon-blue fluid from the briefcase Nakajima had sent in advance, and the foam coverings said vial had been nestled in on its way here. Some of it was loaded into a number of syringes, whereupon the substance inside was to be intravenously administered to the five children currently occupying each bed inside the ward.

It was these five children that currently held Himika's attention—she did not want to keep her eyes on the strange liquid her company's medical division had concocted. But the sight of some of her best students in the state they were in—sedated and, for all she knew, flirting with the final embrace of death—made for little improvement.

Kōtsu Masumi was nearest to her; the lights above threw the multiple burns and contusions she'd suffered into sharp relief. Most of the blood had been sponged off, thankfully, but there still remained a few stains of reddish-brown liquid on her flaking scalp and singed clothes. Himika had already heard from the doctors of how she'd been rescued after being launched _through the wall of a burning restaurant_ —and she could not help but feel the slightest bit awed at the resilience such a feat of survival would have showed.

That was not to slight the others, however; Li Shen and Tōdō Yaiba—no doubt to their intense training regimens, she suspected—had come out of this with mostly burns, bruises, and scrapes. But Himika had also watched enough of the news to know the road to recovery would still be a long one—especially for Shen, she thought; a pang of concern flitted through the headmistress' mind out of what might happen if either Synchro Duelist was to find out _that_ bit of news for himself—if they didn't know already.

As for Rokkaku Fuyu, it was a minor medical miracle that he wasn't dead already, she thought—though the doctors had also said that his already frail condition didn't look good. On top of yet more burns and gashes, the heavily bandaged Xyz Duelist had required several blood transfusions on account of how much he'd lost from his facial injuries. It was these that made even the stonehearted Himika wince imperceptibly—inwardly, she wondered if the substance they were about to inject into everyone's bodies would fully fix the damage that Fuyu's ordeal had inflicted upon him.

Then there was Menoko Hotene. The tiny Duelist was, in some ways, more durable than the rest of the Duelists inside the ward, Himika mused. The _Shaddoll_ incident had proven that she was as strong in body, mind, and spirit as only a child her age could be—and what was more, the time of recovery since had showcased a more rapid return to form than the doctors who'd treated her had predicted. But her skeleton was still not yet fully formed—individual bones had yet to fully ossify—and that made the gaping gash on the little girl's head perhaps more serious than any injury Himika had seen since entering the ward. Even the doctors' efforts to clean and bandage the wound did not make the sight any less unsettling.

Desperate to look at something other than the injuries her students had sustained, or the miracle substance she hoped would quickly reverse their predicaments, Himika allowed her eyes to rove around the room, searching for something to hold her attention. Eventually, her gaze fell upon the Duel Disk that had recently been removed from Masumi's arm, and now lay upon a small tray next to her bed; the doctors had mentioned that the children's burned and blistered skin warranted removing the bits of clothing and personal effects that covered the injuries.

Himika could not help but admire the workmanship that had gone into making those Duel Disks—their hardiness had been proved today; the worst that could be said about Masumi's disk in particular was that the plastic external shell looked a little warped and melted, presumably from the heat of the burning restaurant she'd been in. Amazingly, her cards had survived the ordeal as well—and well that they did; the device's developers had incessantly sung of how waterproof, fireproof, shockproof (and so on) they'd made the thing so as to help both it and it's wearer's cards survive in the augmented reality of an Action Duel—

She frowned. The way Masumi was wearing her Duel Disk—indeed, all five of the LID—made it look as though she'd been Dueling someone. Recently, too—perhaps even right before she'd been ejected from the ruined building. But that couldn't be possible, Himika thought—the safety systems would have ensured there would never be a Duel in such a dangerous location as—

The headmistress found herself reaching for the Duel Disk almost without her thinking it—only to be interrupted by a sniff.

"Apologies, ma'am," the head doctor said quietly, "but we'd rather you not disturb the bodies at present. This is a very delicate operation you've requested us to perform, and if something were to go wrong … "

He did not finish his sentence—but Himika saw him grip the syringe of glowing liquid a little tighter as he spoke the words, and she instinctively relaxed her hand, returning it to her side.

"Carry on, then," she instructed. "Time is of the essence."

The doctor nodded—with no small hesitance, Himika noticed. "As you already know," he coughed, "I intend to file a grievance with the Medical Ethics Council when this procedure is concluded. It is enough that what you're asking me to do is not—strictly speaking— _legal_. But to perform it on _children_ —"

Himika was not worried. A woman of her position had friends in high places throughout the Japanese government—including the _Kōrō-shō_ that oversaw that selfsame ethics council—and Nakajima was the perfect man to go between them. No official body could address _every_ complaint sent their way, after all.

"That is your right," she conceded. "But you know what they say about desperate times." She fixed the doctor with the steeliest stare she could muster under the circumstances. "I want that procedure done."

Nakajima's phone vibrated at that moment. He checked the caller ID, cast a meaningful look at Himika, and—at a nod from her—left the room to take the call. He did not take his briefcase back with him.

There was a pause after that, during which the doctor shrugged. "I know you too well to think otherwise," he eventually said. "But I still hold out hope. I've got a daughter of my own—about her age," he added, nodding at Hotene's supine form. "She'll be eligible for Duel School enrollment in less than a year. If she was in her place … and it meant her survival … her future … "

He did not finish his sentence, but merely raised the needle to Hotene's neck—and depressed the syringe, injecting its entire contents into her bloodstream. Himika watched him do this four more times, with four different vials and four different children, before she judged herself satisfied with the doctor's work.

She turned to leave—she'd done all she could on her end; it was up to her students now. "I intend to speak to their parents at a later date," she said to the doctor. "In the meantime, please inform me if there are any complications with the administered treatments. And please do what you can to discharge them as early as possible; I would speak with them the moment they have a clean bill of health. These five children didn't happen into your ward by coincidence."

The doctor stared back at her. "You're saying that—"

"They are firsthand witnesses to the events that happened tonight," the headmistress said evenly, finishing his sentence for him. "I want to know exactly what it was they witnessed."

There were others, she knew full well, but Akaba Himika intended for Masumi and the others to be the _first_ to come forward with what they already knew. This was still a LeoCorp matter—right now, the American government was the only outside entity who knew anything beyond what tonight's broadcasts had already confirmed—and their representatives weren't likely to tell anyone, either, until they'd conducted their own inquiry. However, if _other_ survivors were to offer their own testimonies as to these events, it would bring in so many other questions that LeoCorp's investigation would be irreparably compromised, solving this mystery would be impossible—and upwards of thirty-two people would have died for nothing.

Without waiting for a reply from the doctor, she turned on her heel and left the ward. She cast one last look at Nakajima's briefcase before stepping into the hallway.

Only then did her fingers reach up to her right earring, brushing against the hidden trigger she'd concealed inside. The simple action was all it took; now, there was nothing left for her to do but wait.

What she had done, Himika knew—before she'd entered that hospital ward, while she'd been inside it, and again just now, after she'd left—was the only way to ensure this mystery could be solved in short order … in other words, before the person responsible had a chance to strike again, and cause even more destruction and loss of life to her city.

She could only hope that the LID was up to the challenge.

* * *

Nakajima was waiting in the car. "Our friends from America just lifted off from Honolulu," he said as Himika got in. "They'll arrive in the morning. Shall I take you home to prepare for their arrival?"

Himika checked her watch, and nodded back. "You told them what we'd discovered?"

"Just enough to catch their interest," said her aide.

Another nod. "Did you ask if they'd learned anything?"

"I didn't have to." Nakajima started the engine. "They told me they were bringing some information you might want to see."

"What kind of information?"

"They didn't say," shrugged Nakajima, pulling out onto the main road. "And maybe I'm just being paranoid, but that tells me just as much as if they _had_ said something."

"You think the Americans know more about this than they want to let on?" said Himika.

"I'm almost certain of it," Nakajima replied. "They're not behaving any differently than we are. Even so, dealing with foreign intelligence never ceases to give me a headache. If I were you, I'd keep an eye on our guests while they're here."

Himika was already one step ahead of him. "Why stop at _one_ eye? We've got ten more at our disposal."

Nakajima said nothing—he understood exactly what Himika was suggesting. "We'll talk about that in the morning," he said. _After we've let the Americans have their say_ , went the unspoken addition— _and once we know those eyes are in the condition to see what you want to see_.

They drove on.

* * *

Though Masumi's body lay still—almost peacefully so—the inside of her mind was anything but.

The cocktail of drugs and sedatives that had been injected into her did nothing to dull the imagery that assaulted her. Images of a Maiami City she had only seen in dreams—abandoned and ravaged by war—flitted through her mind. Violet slices of light raced across the sky, like contrails of glowing clouds. The air was freezing cold; it felt as though her blood was turning to ice.

These dreams as a whole were nothing new to the Fusion Duelist—but neither were they the same. Now there were explosions of blue fire, bursting all around her time and again—sending her flying to the unforgiving asphalt every time. And all the while, faceless forms surrounded her bloodied body, staring at her with eyeless faces, while cards rained down from the eternal, moonless night.

 _How does it feel_ , said one of them—a tall, thin female— _knowing you've signed the death warrant of an entire dimension?_ Her voice was even more frigid than the air of the dream.

"Shut up!" Masumi heard herself screaming back.

 _They've exploited you … used you … with no thought to the future but their own survival …_

The Fusion user felt her hackles rising up, and she bared her teeth in a snarl. "I told you to SHUT UP!" she shrieked.

 _Screaming at me won't stop it from being true, Masumi_ , smirked the voice. _Because no one knows the_ _ **truth**_ _quite like you …_

Masumi lunged for the figure. "You gave me nothing but LIES!" she howled, lashing out with her fist—

A flower of azure flame blossomed directly in between them, sending Masumi careening into the wall of a building. Something cracked in her body, and strange symbols danced in front of her eyes as the pain seared through her insides.

Then, a shadow fell across her—too quickly for the fires to have died down—and she forced her eyes open.

The apparition towered over her. Its massive black cloak seemed to extend to the four corners of the horizon. When it spoke, it did so with the mechanized rumble of Seika, melding with the icy sneer of the female voice that continued to taunt her, even now.

 _She gave you_ _ **more**_ , those voices now spoke in tandem. _She gave you a_ _ **weapon**_ _—a force whose power no bomb or bullet can equal. Once is all it takes. The right place, the right time—and your world will change._

Something invisible constricted around Masumi's throat, and the Fusion user was lifted off the ground by an unseen force. Forced to stare at the disembodied chips of ice—the only sign of life Seika showed beneath that rippling ebon cape—she could do nothing but kick uselessly at thin air—

As her eyes rolled back, and blackness closed in around her, Masumi noticed the building she'd been thrown against. Bricks and stone had suddenly become plastic and metal—there was no sign of mortar, only crisscrossing lines of silicon and fiber optics that formed the maze of circuitry behind her—

The black, monolithic form of Q—as tall as an office building—loomed over her, its single electronic eye burning a vivid ice blue as it bored into Masumi's mind. Seika's next words were the last thing she heard:

 _Now, that weapon is_ _ **mine**_ _… now, your world is_ _ **mine**_ _to_ _ **change**_ _…_

* * *

Her eyes snapped open.

Immediately, she wished she hadn't done that so quickly; the light was so blinding that she had to squish them shut; rectangular spots of many colors flared her vision.

As she lay there, waiting for her eyes to adjust, Masumi's other senses began to take stock of where she was. Within seconds she knew she was in the hospital— _again_ , noted some faraway part in her mind; the air smelled too sterile for her to be anywhere else. Her flesh was cold all over, inside and out, and felt pinched in several places; the blanket covering her was far from the comfortable quilt of her own bed. Her ears soon registered the soft whisper of the air conditioner at the same moment as the constant pinging noise of a heart monitor trickled into her brain. The suction of an oxygen mask clung to her lips, constantly pumping air into her mouth. Her left arm stung with pain; Masumi faintly smelled antibiotic cream.

For a moment, she did not know how she had gotten here—the imagery of her dreams had been so intense that they completely occupied her mind.

Then, in a torrent of information that left her brain reeling, it all came back to her: the exploding restaurant, her mother and father vanishing in a torrent of flame, the mysterious Duelist who wanted to kill her, the strange monsters he used to battle her Gem-Knights—the _Infernoids_ …

She sat bolt upright—only to be restrained by a nurse who'd suddenly appeared out of nowhere. "Please lie back down … " she said to him, "you're not in the condition to be moving about on your own … "

But the Fusion Duelist barely heard her—she'd sat up long enough to see she wasn't alone inside the room.

Yaiba, Hotene, Shen, and Fuyu all occupied their own beds—each of them looking worse off than the last one. Only Yaiba and Shen, the Synchro Duelists, were seen to move in any way—and then only from faint stirs in the blankets that covered them. Both of them sported visible bruises and cuts; Yaiba was on a respirator, and his hair looked as though several chunks of it had been blackened or burned off—at least, those parts of it that weren't covered in brick dust and bits of trash.

Shen looked similarly singed, though he was not on oxygen, which cheered up Masumi very slightly. What little of his orange robes Masumi could see under the blanket he wore looked distinctively darker than they usually did. But the heart monitors next to him and Yaiba were still giving off that same _ping-ping-ping_ sound as Masumi's own; they were both still breathing, and for that she was thankful.

It was the conditions of the other two, however, that made the breath catch in her mouth. The reddened bandages adorning Hotene's forehead were enough on their own to make the Fusion user speechless— _how could a nine-year-old survive after that?!_ she thought in horror—and Fuyu, if anything, almost looked _worse_ : his entire face, but for the respirator covering his nose and mouth, was swathed in bloodied gauze. It looked as though he'd been flung face-first through a window.

"What happened to them?" Masumi whispered, half to herself.

She heard the nurse pause behind her. "You didn't hear?"

Before Masumi could answer, a tablet had been placed in her lap, its screen bearing the image of a news app. The headline that blared from the entire page hit the Fusion Duelist like a kick in the gut:

* * *

 ** _DOZENS DEAD, INJURED IN JAPAN TERROR SPREE_**

 ** _LDS: ATTACKS ACADEMIA'S 'RETALIATORY STRIKE' AGAINST LANCERS_**

* * *

With fumbling fingers, Masumi tapped the headline to read the full story:

* * *

MAIAMI CITY, JAPAN – At least 32 people are dead and another seventy-six injured following a series of explosions that rocked one of Japan's largest cities.

In a statement released from his office, Prime Minister Arakawa Hideo confirmed the estimated number of casualties, and that he has already informed the relevant Ministers of the nature of these events.

"His Honor the Mayor of Maiami City, Sawatari Shinichirō, has asked for a nationwide day of mourning, in light of this unspeakable tragedy," read Arakawa's statement. "He has cited his own son, a member of the vaunted Lance Defense Soldiers, as ample reason behind his petition.

"Let it be known that our hearts and minds are with him and the citizens of his city, as they grieve their losses, and with the city's civil defense officials who ensured that further loss of life was not sustained."

Akaba Himika, Headmistress of the Leo Duel School and acting chief executive of the Leo Corporation, further spoke at length in a press conference held soon after the attacks took place, confirming that a number of schoolchildren, including several members of her own institution, were among the casualties.

"It is extremely unfortunate that, scarcely a month on, we should find ourselves in the same moments of shock and grief that gripped the world during the invasion of Academia," Akaba said at the front steps of her school. "The timing and coordination of this attack suggests that it was carried out by a large and cohesive organization—one sharing characteristics with the same force that attacked our city.

"It is, therefore, extremely likely that the perpetrator or perpetrators of these attacks has aligned himself or herself with the interests of Academia," Akaba said, "and thus coordinated this retaliatory strike against its nemesis, the Leo Duel School and its Lancer program, so as to further cause chaos and destruction in our city, and perhaps even the world at large. I would therefore urge us all to remain alert and vigilant, and that anyone possessing relevant information on this cowardly act would please come forward, so that the entity responsible should be subject to the most appropriate justice."

The attack is already responsible for the second-most fatalities of any postwar incident in the history of Japan, superseded only by the Myōjō 56 building fire that claimed 44 lives in September 2001. The sarin attacks carried out by Aum Shinrikyo in 1995 remain by far the overall deadliest incident, with twelve deaths and over a thousand total casualties attributed to the cult.

At time of writing, eyewitness reports suggest all five explosions that comprised the attack took place within a matter of seconds, perhaps even simultaneously, and in different sections of downtown Maiami City. Additional reports further allege that the Solid Vision systems in the immediate vicinity of the blasts were active at the time, but these reports have yet to be confirmed by official sources—

* * *

There followed a picture featuring a top-down overlay of Maiami City, with small explosions marking the sites of the deadly incidents. Masumi, as a lifelong resident of the city, needed only a few seconds to easily know the precise locations of where these attacks had occurred.

And the implications scared her.

"What time is it?" she asked the nurse, trying to speak a little louder—but failing; whether from her injuries or simply a lack of fluids, all she could manage was a feeble croak.

"About five in the morning," was the reply. "You've been unconscious for about eleven hours. Half that time, you and everyone else was in critical condition—we only just managed to stabilize you an hour ago."

But Masumi—not even batting an eye at how long she'd been out cold—had tuned her out; by now, her attention had been fully drawn to the graphic in the news article, and where each explosion had happened.

The first, she now knew, had blown apart the restaurant where her parents had taken her to eat last night. Two more were on the north side of downtown, very close to the plaza where Shen was known to tend his shrine. The fourth was slightly northeast, in a suburban area with a largely residential population—and the fifth had occurred in the west … on the same hilltop as the planetarium Fuyu's parents owned.

The implication was clear: these attacks weren't simply some part of a 'retaliatory strike', as Himika had said. Each of them had taken place where she, Yaiba, Hotene, Shen, or Fuyu had been at that time—or, barring that, had been at a place they were known to frequent.

 _They were meant specifically for the LID_.

She turned round to look at the nurse—wincing as pain flared through her back, where she'd crashed through the restaurant wall.

"I need a phone," she managed to cough out—she had to tell someone, _anyone_ , about what she'd learned.

"I'm afraid that's not an option," said the nurse. "This entire ward's been declared closed to the public—even the press camped outside can't get in here. That goes for outside calls, too—except in cases of emergency, we've been asked to restrict all communications in or out of this hospital while you're here."

Masumi had a good idea of how that might have come about. She made a mental note to talk to Himika as soon as the doctors had given her and the LID a clean bill of health.

The nurse must have noticed her dour expression, because she hurriedly added, "It's for your own health—having to answer question after question with little to no pause. And then there's emotional and mental recovery, of course—"

Masumi held up a hand in surrender. "Okay—okay. So how long _will_ we be in here?" she asked.

"It's too soon to tell," said the nurse. "We administered several treatments during the night that we predict will help in hastening your recovery, but the six of you suffered a wide range of injuries as well. There may be … _permanent_ scarring in some cases," she added, casting a sad look at Fuyu and Hotene.

"What sort of treatments did you give—wait," Masumi frowned, counting the beds in the room. "There are only _five_ of us here. Why did you say _six_?"

The nurse nodded in Hotene's direction. "One of the explosions leveled that girl's house. Paramedics found her and another girl in the wreckage—a classmate. Ten years old, green-and-orange hair—"

Masumi felt the cavernous feeling in her chest grow larger still. So Rika had been caught up in the blast as well. She wasn't LID, so there had been no reason to target her—but she'd been in the same place as someone who was.

 _Wrong place, wrong time_ , she thought, cursing whoever had committed this crime.

"She's got a long road of recovery ahead," the nurse said sadly, shaking her head. "Half of Rika's ribs got broken in the explosion, and one of the bone fragments punctured a lung. But she's conscious, she's stable—she, and the rest of you, are going to be okay."

She attempted a smile, but it was lost on Masumi—still brooding over the events that had happened yesterday afternoon, and the article that had reported on the events.

Himika had made a mistake; whoever had put the LID in hospital wasn't affiliated with Academia—not if the Deck Masumi had Dueled was anything to go by. Masumi knew she had to set the record straight with her, but she didn't know if her word was good enough against—

Then she paused. Of course—she could simply access the archive function on her Duel Disk! Each Disk contained an archive that recorded the telemetry of every Duel, turn by turn. It included hand sizes, individual statistics of monsters, Spells and Traps—with this, the Fusion user could provide Himika with a mountain of evidence in LDS' favor!

Gingerly, Masumi brought her Duel Disk as close to her chest as her injuries would allow—hoping it wasn't nearly as battered as it looked. "Access Dueling history," she said, as clearly as she could.

The screen flashed once, and Masumi's heart rose—at least the software was still intact. "Display all Dueling telemetry from the previous twenty-four hours. Prioritize time index 1600 to 1700."

 **WORKING** , flashed the screen.

The Fusion user knew that she had arrived at the restaurant with her family at around a quarter past four yesterday afternoon. Roughly ten minutes later, after she'd gone to the bathroom, Seika had appeared, and blasted the building to smithereens before engaging Masumi in a Duel. How long that Duel had gone on, she did not know, but Masumi was confident that the block of time she'd searched for—between four and five o'clock yesterday—would reveal all that she needed to know.

Then her screen blipped again. **SEARCH COMPLETE** , it displayed. **NO TELEMETRY FOUND IN PRIORITIZED PARAMETERS**.

 _What the hell?_ Masumi thought, totally confounded. She was certain that she had entered the right time block. Why hadn't her Duel Disk recorded anything?

She tried her search again, but was again unsuccessful. Perhaps the Duel Disk's innards had been damaged after all, she decided. The explosion had corrupted the device, preventing it from logging her Duel with Seika— _yes; that was it_ , sighed Masumi, sitting back down in bed. She'd take the device to a repair shop later today, if she was discharged, ask them if they could recover her data as well, and everything would be right as rain.

Although … She sat back up again, ignoring the pain stinging her body, as another thought occurred to her. The likelihood of that particular part of her Duel Disk being damaged—of that specific block of data being damaged to the point of irretrievability—was almost zero.

But Masumi shook her head. Pursuing that train of thought could wait until another time. There were other things that deserved her attention at present—and each of them occupied a bed in this room.

She craned her neck to look at the nurse. "Can you wake any of them?" she asked.

The nurse chewed her tongue. "Those two regained consciousness before you did," she replied, pointing to Yaiba and Shen. "Not for very long, though; we had to sedate them to administer further treatment less than a minute after. Better to let them sleep it off—but I doubt it'll be much longer before then."

Masumi thought she heard a pause before the nurse had spoken the words _further treatment_. Her eyes traveled back to Fuyu's face—she knew it hadn't nearly been that scarred yesterday, but neither did his wounds look fresh, either. And Hotene's head wound looked a little _too_ clean to have been made less than a day ago. In fact, Masumi thought, she herself had been in a burning wreck for who knew how long having that Duel with Seika. Surely there had to have been some sort of smoke inhalation—but her throat and voice didn't feel nearly as scratchy as it ought to …

"What did this treatment involve?" It felt as though she was speaking from very far away.

This time, there was no doubt—the nurse had paused. "I'm … not sure you're the best people to tell," she said hesitantly. "To be truthful, I'm not certain I'm the right person to tell you myself."

"Then who—?" Even as the words left her lips, however, Masumi had a feeling she'd answered her own question. "It was Headmistress Akaba, wasn't it?"

The silence from the nurse was all the answer Masumi needed, and more besides.

She stared the woman back in the eye. "I think I have a right to know exactly what it was that she had you put in my body," she said softly. "You can either tell me, or you can tell my mother and father, if you think they're better suited to hear the truth. Except you already told me the hospital restricted communications in and out of this ward, so I'm willing to bet you _can't_ call them now—not without having the press kicking down your door."

Masumi crossed her arms. "But do you really think that two dozen reporters are going to keep two angry parents from seeing their only child? Or everyone else's parents from seeing theirs?"

She had no idea what had made her say all that—but her words had a powerful impact on the nurse. The woman glanced round at everyone occupying a hospital bed, her eyes too slow to conceal the fear of what might happen if she broke the news to the wrong person.

"The last time I was in hospital," Masumi went on, deciding to goad her further still, "I remember seeing my father bursting through the door in a headlock with about three different orderlies—and he was still doing his utmost to break free … just to see if his daughter was still alive. How many would it take to subdue him if he learned what happened to me?"

From the aftermath of the _Shaddoll_ incident, Masumi had learned that mothers and fathers could be capable of extraordinary deeds when they believed their children to be in danger. They could lift cars and fight off wild animals—or commit acts of violence that they would otherwise never dream of even contemplating. It seemed the nurse knew this—no doubt she had seen such instances before—as she noticeably sagged where she stood.

"You would have to ask Himika- _san_ for the specifics," she told Masumi. "I'm only a nurse, I can't tell you everything. But I do know that she wanted all five of you stabilized and discharged as soon as possible. She was not particular on how—in fact, her aide brought something with them that she claimed would speed up your recovery—"

"How?"

The nurse was beginning to talk more quickly, more agitated. "The doctor who administered it told me was an experimental compound—that it was designed to accelerate cellular regeneration, help wounds heal faster. LDS had been toying with the idea of testing it on the Lancers, the doctor said—but Academia struck sooner than they had expected; they had no time to give it to them before they left the city."

"And so LDS dug it back out, so they could use it on us." Masumi felt her teeth grinding. It was difficult to say what she wanted more: to shout herself red in the face at her Headmistress for doing this without permission from her or her parents—or to hope the treatment would fail, so that Himika would think twice about using her own students like lab rats again.

"Himika- _san_ was very insistent," said the nurse. "She says the five of you have vital information regarding the events of last night. We were to use any means necessary to ensure you survived to give it to her—"

"There's _nothing to give her at all!_ " Masumi finally exploded. Before the nurse could even recoil in shock, the Fusion Duelist had lunged forward, her fist raised as if to deliver an uppercut right to the woman's head. But she stopped less than a foot away—close enough for the nurse to see Masumi's Duel Disk, and the screen that still displayed its **NO TELEMETRY FOUND** message.

"You want to know what I was doing out there?" Masumi whispered. "What I was doing in that burning wreckage? I was putting my life on the line to find out the truth about a man I barely even know!"

She thrust the screen of her Duel Disk in the nurse's face. "And I just found out it was all for _nothing_."

" _To the contrary, Masumi_."

Nothing else could have made Masumi so confused as to forget her anger completely—if only for a moment. But the voice that had just made itself known within the ward was so unexpected that her fist dropped to her side like a limp noodle—all other thoughts forgotten.

Even the nurse looked shocked. "H-Himika- _san_!" she managed to stammer out, looking to and fro in every direction. "Where—how are you—?!"

"Exactly as might be suspected after yesterday's events." The voice of the LDS Headmistress, though cool and collected as ever, sounded oddly muffled as well, as though she'd been stuffed inside a cupboard. "I apologize for the interruption, Nurse Fujiwara, but I needed to take some extra precautions in ensuring that I could speak to your patients as quickly as possible."

Masumi had no doubt she looked her confusion. So, apparently, did the nurse called Fujiwara. "I don't understand," she said, her eyes still flicking left and right, as if expecting Himika to appear out of thin air.

"When my associate and I visited the ward last night," Himika explained, "he was given a package as we walked in. I believe it is still here, next to the door."

Before she was even aware of it, Masumi's eyes had flicked to the door in question. Sure enough, there stood a stainless-steel briefcase, propped up next to a cabinet so innocently that it might have been mistaken for one of Masumi's own belongings.

"If you would please open it, I believe you will find your explanation." Now that Masumi's surprise was beginning to subside, she could more readily identify the source of the voice. It had not been coming from the intercom speakers above her; there would have been some feedback and background noise to go with that. As the Fusion user stared, and listened more carefully to what Himika was saying, her ears could now pinpoint that briefcase as the source of her principal's voice.

 _How_ this was possible, though, was another question entirely.

Fujiwara, meanwhile, had unclasped the hinges of the briefcase, revealing thick, gray foam that looked as though it was meant to store something fragile—something cylindrical, Masumi guessed as her eyes narrowed … something as small and delicate as, say, a syringe.

The nurse now pulled out that padding, and withdrew something from underneath that Masumi took at first to be a high-tech tea saucer, about five inches in diameter. But moments later, even before Himika spoke again, the Fusion user had already guessed what that "plate" might actually be.

Fujiwara nearly dropped the object as it began to glow, revealing a three-dimensional image of a seated Himika that, although barely half a meter tall, still somehow managed to make Masumi feel relieved, angry, and intimidated—all at roughly the same time. That the hologram still managed to reproduce the coldness in the headmistress' eyes might have had something to do with her conflicting emotions.

"Yes, I bugged your hospital ward," said Himika's image casually to Fujiwara. "Yes, I'll be discussing the ramifications with your superior another time. However, for the present, circumstances dictate a swift response, so I will get to the point: How soon can you have my students discharged and in good health?"

"I-I can send for the doctor now," said Fujiwara, swallowing. "He was hoping to run some tests on them within the hour, so he could gauge their response to the serum you gave us. But I can see if he's willing to speed up his timetable—within reason, naturally."

"Naturally," echoed a smiling Himika. "I should like to see them in my office by this evening. The afternoon would be even better. I wish I could be available sooner than that, but I'm afraid my schedule is rather _full_ at present." There was a look of disapproval on her face that Masumi could see even from here.

Himika had now turned to the Fusion user. "Masumi, I realize that you, Yaiba and the others no doubt have questions that must be answered. And ordinarily, I would gladly divulge all that I know here and now, but I am currently … _not at liberty_ to disclose what I believe to be extremely sensitive material."

Masumi noted that look of disapproval again—and with it, something else: Himika's eyes, normally cold and unwavering, were flicking left and right, as if she was longing to whisper some dirty secret in her ear.

And was it something about the hologram, or did those twin chips of ice show a glimmer of _fear_?

Then Masumi blinked, and Himika was suddenly as impassive as ever. "That is why I must ask you," she said, "to please hold your questions until we can meet personally. Now is not the time for explanations."

"Would those explanations include why you decided to _interfere with our recovery_?" Masumi said testily.

Himika blinked slowly. If they had been speaking face-to-face, her stare alone might have made Masumi regret her outburst. But for some reason, her principal's physical absence almost felt emboldening to the Fusion Duelist—as if she could say what she wanted without immediate fear of repercussion.

Her principal, however, appeared unusually conciliatory. "Yes … yes, they will," she eventually answered through tight lips, "though whether you choose to believe them is your decision to make."

She glanced somewhere behind her. "I must be going now," she said, her voice suddenly terse. "Nurse Fujiwara, I have left a phone number with your hospital's front desk. Please have them call that number once all five students have been released from your care; I will contact them directly after. And keep the call to less than sixty seconds; I wish to avoid _undue attention_."

Fujiwara swallowed, evidently confused at the strange instructions, but bowed in deference nonetheless. "Y-yes, Himika- _san_ ," she replied.

Himika responded only with a nod in her general direction. Then her hologram flickered once, and she was gone, leaving behind a silence that Masumi found instantly uncomfortable.

The reason why was evident, even as she made as if to lay back in bed to think on what she'd heard: as she'd adjusted her position, her eyes had strayed across Shen's bed, and found him sitting upright in the covers, hardly daring to move a muscle. He and Yaiba, true to Nurse Fujiwara's prediction, had regained consciousness just now; the latter was still lying in his bed, though quite awake. Both of the boys were staring at the Fusion user in total silence, completely lost for words.

It took only a single glance at them for Masumi to realize how much of the previous conversation both Synchro users had heard.

Fujiwara, sensing Masumi too was strangely silent, had turned around to find out why, and immediately jumped in shock. "Oh—goodness, I didn't know you were awake!" she managed to stammer out.

She immediately made to check on them—but Shen, who had craned his neck around to regard them in full, instantly raised her hand in her direction, stopping the nurse in her tracks. Masumi saw a strangely glassy look in his dark eyes that did not suit him at all.

Then Shen spoke. "My _sifu_ is dead."

It was unclear who he was addressing—if anyone in particular—but the four words instantly cast a pall over the room. Masumi felt her eyes bug in their sockets; she felt as though some part of her was hurtling down some infinitely deep and dark abyss …

"It happened before I could blink," said the Synchro user haltingly. His speech was even more stilted than usual—as though the normally stoic boy was having difficulty relating his story. "I had just finished my duties of sweeping the temple steps when I heard a strange noise from the northeast. For one moment, I had believed that some sort of power outage was taking place."

He swallowed—which surprised Masumi; Shen was not one to easily gave in to such displays of emotion.

"I remember very little of the moment after that," he said. "There was only a flash of blue from inside the temple—and then came the shockwave. I was thrown off my feet; I landed in the grassy area of the plaza, a house-length or more from where I stood. My _sifu_ was inside, along with ten others. The explosion had ripped a hole in the temple's southern wall; I attempted to run inside—to save as many as I could—but I could not do so; someone had appeared in the plaza, and it was clear that he hoped to block my path."

Even through her grief, Masumi felt the hairs rising on the back of her neck. "Who?" she asked, her voice sounding very small.

"I could not see him very well," Shen told her. "He was half as tall again as I am—and three times broader at the shoulder—but wore a black cloak to hide all else from my eyes. He gave only his name—Seika."

Masumi felt her jaw drop—but Yaiba had already beaten her to the punch. "Seika?!" he exclaimed, his voice noticeably scratchy through his respirator. "Did he use monsters called _Infernoids_ on you, Shen?!"

"He did—and very adeptly, too, I should add," said the Synchro user, his downcast eyes not seeing his compatriots' looks of redoubled shock. "I lasted only four turns against them. But I will never forget what else he did: during that Duel, this Seika faced me with his back directly to the ruins of my temple."

His voice was shaking—a fact that surprised Masumi; she could not tell if this was due to grief or rage.

"I do not know if he intended it or not—but over the course of the Duel, he made me watch the temple collapse from the fire that engulfed it," whispered Shen. "When I saw the last blazing timbers fall, I had no further desire to win or to lose—only to finish the fight. There was nothing else I cared about besides attempting to free my trapped brothers … but by then, Seika had ensured his Duel had taken long enough."

His dark eyes, already hawklike under his brow, were but narrow slits. "I was the only survivor of twelve."

Masumi felt hot tears on her face at the horrid news; were it not for her own condition, she would have embraced Shen and never let go. "I'm so sorry," she could only squeak.

Yaiba seemed to sense her intentions; fortunately, he was closer to Shen, and extended an open hand that his comrade grasped tight in his own. No one spoke for a few seconds after that; there was no need to—though Masumi privately vowed she'd approach Shen later, when the time was more appropriate.

"I blacked out shortly after my loss," Shen eventually worked himself up to say. "When next I came to, it was to find myself here. I was awake long enough to hear of my injuries, and to notice the four of you lying in the room. Then they sedated me again, before I could tell anyone what had happened."

"At least you got to Duel Seika in the open," Yaiba grumbled. "He cornered me in an alley. I was close enough to hear the explosion from your temple, Shen. I'd only just thought to help when he struck."

He patted his clothes, gray with dust and dirty with detritus, wincing as his palms brushed over his right shoulder. "Damn near collapsed a building on me. The shockwave threw me into a dumpster—anywhere else, I might not be alive to talk about it. Then Seika Dueled me—and before I could even blink, those _Infernoids_ of his had tossed me in that same dumpster with their final attack. Couldn't have been more than a few minutes from start to finish. He didn't even stick around to say why he did what he did—I was conscious just long enough to see Seika disappear in more of that blue fire he'd used to blow up the alley."

"And you woke up here?" The softness of Masumi's voice stunned her; she'd never sounded so quiet.

Yaiba nodded, studied his palms for a while, and sighed. "I wish I could have made it there, Shen," he said sullenly to his friend. "Maybe if I had, I might've been able to help you out. Maybe we could have beat Seika together, and even saved … " He could not finish his sentence; the words were choking in his throat.

Nonetheless, Shen understood. "It is enough for me to know that you wanted to," he said softly.

Masumi, deciding it was the polite thing to do in the situation, gave both Synchro Duelists an extra few seconds of silence before she next spoke. "Shen … how much time did it take between the explosion in your temple, and the first time you saw Seika?"

Shen frowned. "As I said, I do not remember much," he replied. "But it could not have been much time—only a matter of seconds, if that."

"Same here." It took a moment for the impact of what Yaiba had just said to hit him.

When it did, his eyes bugged. "Wait—how is that possible?!" he sputtered. "I heard that explosion just a few seconds before the alley blew up around me! A-and I saw Seika myself only a moment after that! You're saying he was Dueling the both of us at the same time—in _two different places?!_ "

"Not two places," Masumi said softly. " _Five_. Seika attacked me, too—and he used _Infernoid_ monsters on me, as well. I'm sure he got to our other friends at the same time." She spared enough time to look back at Fuyu and Hotene, still unresponsive in their beds, before turning back to Shen and a thunderstruck Yaiba.

Then, before she knew it, the words were pouring out of her mouth in that same soft voice. "My parents and I had gone out to eat for an early dinner. I was on my way back from the restroom when it happened. It was like an entire wall of the place just … blew apart. That was when I saw … _him_."

She felt her legs beginning to shake; Masumi was curling up into a ball—something she hadn't been driven to do in a long while. "He was floating above the floor, coming closer to me—that black cloak of his was blocking out everything else. He knew who I was, Yaiba—he called me by name—and … he's behind everything!" she blurted out. "He told me himself—Seika's responsible for what happened to Crowley!"

It was Yaiba's turn for his eyes to bug. "What?!" he whispered. "How?!"

"I saw the monster that took him—one of those _Infernoids_ , the same one we saw when we were taken to Q's room—before it defeated me in a Duel. It blasted me straight through the other wall of the restaurant. The last thing I remember seeing was my parents—then I blacked out."

She shivered. "It's all connected, Yaiba—Crowley, Seika, Q … _everything_. Seika knows something about that supercomputer that we don't. Crowley must have discovered whatever it was before he vanished."

Yaiba looked grim. "We need to tell Himika about this. Everything Seika did, those Duels we did—"

"She won't believe us," Masumi said quickly. "Check your Dueling histories, both of you. Search between the hours of four and five o'clock from yesterday afternoon."

Both boys did so. Yaiba beat Shen to the punch; his head tilted in abject confusion. "B-but where is it?" he stammered. "I know I Dueled him—I _remember_! Why isn't my Duel Disk finding anything?"

"At first, I thought mine was too damaged from the destruction," Masumi answered, showing her own warped Duel Disk, "that the data was too corrupted. But now I'm starting to think it's worse than that."

She tapped the screen several times, eventually bringing up her own **NO TELEMETRY FOUND** message—the one she knew was being displayed on both Yaiba's and Shen's own devices.

"You said it yourself, Yaiba," whispered the Fusion user. "Once is happenstance, twice is coincidence—"

"—and three times," Yaiba finished with her, understanding, "or four—or _five_ —is a _conspiracy_."

Shen understood, too. "You are implying that the data was erased," he said simply. "If that is the case, then it has to be assumed that Seika does not want his secrets to be revealed so easily."

"Not that he revealed much at all," Masumi said sullenly. "I never got to find out what sort of strategy his _Infernoids_ used. It's the strangest Deck I've ever faced." She told them her suspicions from last night, how she could not be certain as to whether Seika's was an Xyz- or Synchro-focused Deck—or even both.

"If he does excel in both Xyz and Synchro," said Shen, "then Seika must be a formidable Duelist indeed. Very few Decks, even in the Leo Duel School, have the versatility to consistently use more than one Extra Deck Summoning method. And then there is the manner in which he revealed himself to us: he Dueled us at the same time, yet in different places."

"How could he do that, though?" Yaiba again wanted to know. "Were there other Seikas out there, pretending to be him? Maybe they were coordinating together."

"They had the same Deck." But even as she spoke her mind, Masumi felt she was only proving Yaiba's point; those soldiers who'd attacked during the Maiami Championship had used the same Decks as well.

Fortunately, Shen swooped in to save her. "And how likely is it that they were all able to float in the air," he asked, "or to generate their Field Spells without having to activate their corresponding cards as well?"

There was a silence. Yaiba broke it with a sigh that nearly made Masumi jump.

"It doesn't matter what Himika thinks happened," he said heavily. "We have to tell her everything."

"Very true," agreed Shen. "Seika is too great a threat for each of us to face on our own. And I do not doubt that he shall come for us again. If he intends to subject us to the same fate that claimed J.D. Crowley, then we must face him together, if ever we do again."

Masumi nodded. "We should meet someplace after they let us out of here. Maybe once Hotene and Fuyu are awake enough to tell us what happened to them, we can figure out what to do with what we all know."

"I just hope they'll be in the shape to tell us anything when they wake up," Yaiba said sadly, staring at the supine forms of their two friends, and the thick strips of gauze adorning their heads.

This last comment came with a melancholy silence. The Fusion user really didn't want to think about it, but she knew Yaiba had a point—those were very serious wounds that the bandages were covering. She—

"Wa- ** _CHOO!_** "

Masumi really _did_ jump at that point—so loud was the sneeze from behind her that it felt like another one of Seika's explosions. She whirled around in her bed.

"Ah—I'm so very sorry," apologized Nurse Fujiwara, wiping her nose on a tissue that she promptly disposed of in a biohazard bin. "You seemed so engaged in your talk that I didn't want to interrupt."

"It's okay," Masumi told her, right as an uncomfortable sensation hit her around her groin. "Um—excuse me," she said hastily. "Is there a bathroom nearby? I … don't remember the last time I—"

But Nurse Fujiwara was already pulling back. "I understand," she replied, disconnecting her respirator. "Do you need me to help you there? While it does look like you're on the mend, there are still several injuries that the doctor would still like to examine—smoke inhalation, for a start. So I wouldn't stay out of sight for too long; we'd like to get you back on your oxygen as soon as possible."

Gingerly, Masumi rose from her bed, grasping Fujiwara's hand for support. It took a few long moments for her legs to stop tottering for long enough to support her weight, but she eventually flashed a thumbs-up at the nurse, indicating she needed no further assistance.

"The bathroom's at the end of the hallway, on your right," said Fujiwara, smiling at Masumi as she left, before returning to her duties.

* * *

Five minutes later, Masumi exited the stall, breathing a sigh of relief—but still pensive about what she had learned since regaining consciousness barely half an hour ago.

How was it possible that a single Duelist could be in five places at once—to say nothing of Dueling five people at once in different places? What were these abilities Seika had displayed—his _Flood of Purgatory_ , which needed no physical Field Spell to activate, and which seemed to have an effect on the real world besides? Why was he so interested in Q—and in making sure the LID didn't live long enough to discover the same secret J.D. Crowley appeared to have found within Akaba Reiji's pet project?

And who or what, if anything, had the power to make Reiji's own mother—one of the most inscrutable, intimidating people that Masumi had ever met—look even remotely _afraid_?

As she washed her hands, the Fusion user took the time to look at herself in the bathroom mirror. She looked a sorry sight indeed—singed, burned, and physically exhausted—though it comforted her to know that things could have turned out much worse for her.

 _I hope the others recover in time_ , she thought. Though it angered her that Himika had committed the actions she had, there was a small part of her that understood why—she wanted them to survive, if for different reasons than Masumi harbored.

She still wondered if that excused her—especially if the worst happened to Hotene and Fuyu, and rendered Himika's rule-breaking all for naught.

At length, then, Masumi exited the bathroom, hoping against hope, over and over again, that her friends would be okay. She rounded the corner that led to the hallway—

—and ran smack into her mother.

* * *

 **A/N: I LIIIIIIIIIIIIVE**

 **(** ** _sigh_** **) Phew. I'd forgotten how much time and energy having a job can suck out of you. It took the longest time for me to adjust to waking up in the wee hours of the morning, driving to work and back in said wee hours of the morning, and all those other minutiae and tedium of gainful employment and being a Responsible Adult™. Nevertheless, having some semblance of a life again, besides the ones I lead on my computer, feels validating in many ways.**

 **I do apologize for making you wait so long, only to release ten thousand-odd words of what feels like little more than filler. While I do want to get back into the action very soon—Duels and all—I felt like I needed to ease myself back into the swing of things before I acted too quickly; I don't think I can guarantee my usual pace just yet after such a long time between installments. Nor do I feel the previous chapter's cliffhanger was grounds for a speedy resolution, either; sometimes, it's nice to just have a breather episode of sorts—on more than one level, in fact. Which brings us—** ** _finally_** **—here.**

 **Thank you all so,** ** _so_** **much for putting up with my long, oppressive silence. May you never have to suffer the likes of it again. Rate and review if you so desire, and thanks for reading! – K**


	7. VII

**A/N: The first half of this chapter contains spoilers for _(æ)mæth_. I recommend reading that first, if you haven't already.**

* * *

VII

Of course, Masumi was preoccupied enough that she didn't immediately register who it was that she'd collided with. She'd leapt back on instinct, a thousand apologies making their way up to her lips—where they'd promptly died the moment her brain had caught up with what her eyes were seeing.

The second that passed felt like a century. Both women stared at each other, blinking comically through wide eyes, neither trusting themselves to speak. It was hard to tell which of them looked more surprised.

" … Mother?"

" … Masumi?"

The next thing the Fusion user knew, her spine had crumpled against another one of her mother's hugs, and a sudden wetness had buried itself into her left shoulder with a most un-motherly _snuffle_.

"I'm so glad you're okay … " her mother bawled incoherently, her voice muffled both by Masumi's clothes and the tears that streamed unbidden down her face, staining her turtleneck. "Oh, my God, I was so _worried_ … "

"Mother … " It felt like a vise was crushing Masumi's lungs.

"We both thought we'd lost you … I couldn't even sleep after having to haul you out of there … "

"Can't … breathe … " The edges of her vision were beginning to turn gray.

"Your father's been inconsolable … he's sitting in the waiting area now … "

" _…_ _aaaaaaaaiiiiiiiirrrrrrrr …_ "

"Oh!" Masumi barely registered her mother's arms unwrapping from around her chest, and she immediately took in a long series of deep breaths. Getting her breath back was all she could think about right now.

Then what her mother had said had sunk in—and all that breath was promptly knocked out of her again.

"Father's … _here_?"

"Of course he is—he wanted to be there to know you were okay! He's lucky I had to stop off in the bathroom, else I wouldn't know you'd be walking around the place right now!"

"Actually, I—" But Masumi's retort ended in a groan; with a quick "Wait right here!" her mother had vanished into the lavatories, pulling out her phone as she did so. No doubt to text her father the good news, she thought ruefully.

She searched for a chair and sat down, her body suddenly feeling very leaden in a way that had nothing to do with the current state of her health. Masumi had no illusions about what was going to happen now—and the thought of attempting to explain any of what had happened last night to her parents was torture.

The Fusion user was thinking of Himika's warning—of how, as far as the public was concerned, the organization she was part of officially didn't exist. But how could she explain away this attack without revealing its existence at all? Surely her parents wouldn't accept that they'd been attacked out of the blue by this Seika, whoever he was—he'd called for Masumi _by name_ , and he'd done so loudly enough that his voice had to have carried, even in the collapsing restaurant in which their Duel had taken place. That by itself would prompt a lot of questions she wasn't sure she was ready to answer.

But it seemed there was nothing for it, now—and so, when her father rounded the corner right as her mother emerged from the backroom, Masumi inwardly steeled herself for the reaction she knew was coming.

Sure enough, her father stood there, eyes so wide that she could see the redness in them. He did indeed look as though he'd passed a sleepless night—in fact, he looked as though he'd been through hell.

"Before you say anything," Masumi said—taking advantage of his stunned silence before the moment passed—"they were treating me for smoke inhalation, and my mom squeezed the life out of me a few minutes ago. Just trying to make this less—"

But anything she was hoping to say after that was immediately forgotten when her father walked up to her and embraced her. His was a far softer hug than his wife's, but no less emotional. Masumi could feel the quiver in his body from where he was trying his damnedest to suppress his sobbing.

She reached up to pat his back. The simple action was akin to a dam bursting—three pats in, and her shoulder sagged as her father broke down completely. She felt a third pair of arms snake in between them, and she didn't even object as her mother joined the embrace.

No words were needed in this moment—for none could suffice, she knew. After a nighttime that had felt like an eternity, their family was here, together.

For that one moment, even the prospect of airing her secret to the two people that mattered most in her life—and who, for that reason, deserved to hear it least—could not dampen Masumi's spirits.

And so she, too, cried into the embrace, happy that her family was here.

* * *

But eventually, all the hugs and tears that had been building up inside them had been expended, and as they sat down either side of her on a nearby bench, Masumi could sense the question building up inside her parents' minds, waiting to be spoken.

So she sighed, breaking the silence. "I'm sorry you had to get caught up in this. I knew I'd have to say something eventually—but I didn't think I'd have to do it so soon."

Her mother turned round in her seat, giving her a searching look. "What are you talking about?"

"How much did you hear in that restaurant?" Masumi asked. "After the explosion?"

"Not a lot," said her father from her left. "I just remember hearing a lot of _noise_. It all seemed to blend together—people were shouting, my ears were ringing from it all … but there was one thing that stood out to me."

The Fusion Duelist frowned. "What was it?"

"Your name," was her father's reply. "And something about … about silence, I think … "

Masumi felt a dull thud in her insides. So her father had heard more than enough, then.

"I didn't recognize the voice, though … and I couldn't see whom it might be coming from, either," he continued. "By the time I thought to check, we'd already been pushed through the emergency exit by everyone else who was trying to flee."

"Fire department was notified, of course," her mother added. "The place exploded just after they'd set up. We saw at least one body get hurled out of there when it happened. One of them was … "

She broke off here, but Masumi could already guess whom that body belonged to. _Me_.

"What were you doing in there?" Her mother's face was ablaze with a hundred emotions. "At first, we thought we'd just gotten separated. We didn't know you were still in that wreck until after we saw you get tossed out!"

Masumi bit her lip—there it was: the first question that would undoubtedly lead to a thousand more. There would be no turning back, regardless of how she answered it. Was she to protect the secrets she'd been sworn to keep … or assuage the fears of the two people who'd supported her life choices from the day she'd been born?

It was no contest.

 _Damn Himika, and damn what she told me_.

She leaned back in her bench. "It's a … long, _long_ story, and I honestly don't know how much of it I can tell you," she eventually answered her. "But I suppose it all starts with the tournament I attended last month—the Maiami Championship that got canceled because of the invasion."

"Masumi lost one of her best friends in the attack," her father clarified. "Her favorite professor had also disappeared in the days leading up to the tournament—Marco, I believe his name was?"

Masumi nodded, ignoring the second thud to her insides at the casual mention of Marco's name.

"About a week after the tournament was cancelled," she continued, "I started having nightmares. That much my father already knows, and I don't doubt that's how much he's told you, Mother."

"He did, but he never told me what was in those dreams. I'm guessing you never asked?"

He shook his head. "I figured it was a private matter. It sounded like she was Dueling someone at times. I can only assume it didn't turn out too well."

 _If you only knew_ , thought Masumi. "You're right. I'd dream I was Dueling someone in a dark alley. I'd lose to them, and they'd do the same thing to me that … that the invaders did to Hokuto." She thought of the cards she'd seen in those dreams, imagined his face on each one, imagined them crying for help in his voice …

"These dreams would never stop." Her voice was halting now; it was almost as though some part of her still wanted to leave her mother and father in the dark—keep them from hearing what she'd gone through. "And what was more … they'd be of Duel Monsters that I'd never seen before."

She saw her mother draw back, out of the corner of her eye. "How is that possible?"

"I'm getting there. One night, the nightmare was so bad that I woke up Father. He pulled me aside after breakfast that morning, and he told me that unless I went to a therapist, then these dreams were going to start eating away at my mind—I'd continue to lapse in my studies and my work until I couldn't think straight anymore.

"I knew he was right, so I let him line up an appointment with one of the school counselors. But I didn't forget what I saw in those dreams … or who I saw.

There was a long pause. "Go on."

Masumi swallowed, and did so. "After that appointment, I did some work so that I could be ready for the next time I had that dream. But it didn't help me at all. I lost again, worse than ever—and after I lost, I saw faces of children I didn't know."

She thought of Hotene, Shen, and Fuyu—still recovering from their own ordeal since last night. "They were all LDS students, and once I'd learned who they were, I decided to find them and deal with these nightmares another way—one that I would never have considered otherwise."

Memories of that day flowed into her mind—of jumping off walls and ceilings filled with trampolines with Hotene, the calm and tranquil surroundings made to reproduce where Shen had been born and raised, and of floating in deep space with Fuyu, who had been locked in depression ever since his best friend had been taken from him.

"Over time, as I got to know them, I began to see them as my newest friends." Masumi smiled wistfully. "It was one of the most wonderful days I've ever had." The smile faltered. "But in the end, my plan worked too well."

There was a silence. "Your … plan?" her mother eventually asked.

"I'd … hoped spending time with my new friends would give me the edge I needed to confront this nightmare … that they'd be able to help me beat it … but it was so much more than I could have possibly imagined."

She could feel it coming, now, feel it bursting inside her—there was nothing for it. She had to get it out of her—

"That therapist you sent me to … Father, she was one of them," she blurted out. "She was one of the invaders!"

"What?!" There was a blur as her father shot to his feet.

The words poured forth from Masumi now, without any attempt to stop them. "She was planted there—she was a spy!" Her voice was shaking. "And she had … abilities … that let her control my dreams, appear inside them … "

"How?"

"Some kind of telepathy—I don't know," Masumi could only say. "But she was the one who put us all in that coma. And that … _horrible_ woman … was causing the same nightmares I was trying my hardest to defeat. She turned my friends against me—forced them to battle me … it was awful … the things she was doing to them … "

She didn't even feel the hot tears on her face until her mother had put a comforting arm around her.

"Hush, Masumi … it's okay," she soothed, her gentle voice bringing back memories of her early childhood. "It's okay … "

In her other hand laid a few tissues. Masumi took them without question, pausing only to blow her nose and wipe her eyes before allowing her mother to guide her into her arms once more.

"How could this have happened?" Her father sounded even more distraught. "If only I'd known, I'd … " He could not seem to find the right words. " … How did no one at LDS know she was spying on them?"

"She didn't know at first, either," sighed Masumi. "She'd been brainwashed to forget she was one of _them_ until the time was right. It was the perfect disguise—one that she herself believed was real. _No one_ at LDS could have been prepared for who she was … what she could do."

She looked away. "I hope I never have to see her again."

There was another long pause. "Then you … beat her?" ventured her father. "You overcame your nightmares?"

She nodded. "I very nearly failed," the Fusion user admitted. "If I hadn't been thinking about Hokuto throughout that whole entire dream, I might not be around to talk about it with you."

Before either of her parents could digest _that_ dark thought, Masumi turned to her left. "I know what you're thinking, Father—that maybe if you'd known the truth, you could have protected your only child. But like I said," she added, before he could say his piece, "no one could have anticipated this—not even me, and certainly not you."

She attempted a smile. "Besides, if you hadn't scheduled that appointment with me in the first place, I might not have been able to do what I did that night. I might not have been able to understand just what I could do with my skillset today."

This time, it was her mother that broke the silence; her father looked too confused to speak. "Your … skillset?"

"I've never told anyone this," said Masumi, "but I've spent enough time working around Father's shop that every time I think hard enough about something, I imagine I'm trying to work one of his gemstones. Grinding it out, shaping it, polishing it until what's left is a flawless, priceless jewel. At some point, I started using that same process to fight my nightmare—to Duel it with the same _Gem-Knights_ you gave me when I was accepted to LDS, Mother."

She could barely see, out of the corner of her eye, her mother's cheeks flushing at the compliment—the notion that her daughter was able to do all this with her own Deck.

But the moment passed, and Masumi continued, "When I was recovering, a few days after I woke up from my coma, I began to realize that I could have what it took to join the Lancers. Headmistress Akaba thought so, too, when she came to visit me."

Her father finally found his voice. "The Lancers? You?" There had been no scorn in his father's voice—only more confusion as to how Masumi could have joined such a group—yet Masumi's next words rang with a steely tone that surprised even herself.

"The Lancers aren't the Lancers because they stopped our city from being invaded by those awful people," she told him. "They're the Lancers because they went above and beyond what was expected of them. And that's exactly what the five of us did, when we Dueled that telepath and won."

Her mother was slack-jawed. "Then you're one of them?" Her voice was torn between admiration and indignation. "Why didn't you tell us this before? If my own daughter was a Lancer, I would have been beyond proud of you!"

"Partly because, well … " Masumi hesitated, but only for a moment. It seemed now was the time.

"I'm … not _technically_ one of the Lancers," she answered. "I'm part of something else, now. A different group—like the Lancers, only they take the fight to the people who invaded us, and we stand guard and keep the city safe while they're gone. At least," she added, "that's how the headmistress seems to see it."

"B-but," her father stammered, "what does this have to do with you being in the hospital this time?"

"If I knew the whole story to _that_ , I'd tell you in a heartbeat," Masumi said truthfully—there was too much she herself didn't know for her to feel comfortable with spilling _those_ beans.

" … Does it have to do with that accident I heard on the news?"

Masumi was on her feet and facing her mother before she even knew what had happened.

"That was no accident," she hissed. "Whoever or whatever attacked me at that restaurant also attacked my friends. And they also attacked that man who worked at the Leo Corporation, too."

"Attacked you—!" Her father was aghast, spluttering. "W-why? For what reason?!"

"Even if I knew _how_ to tell you, I don't think I could," Masumi replied. "I'm pretty sure most of it's classified anyway. Right now, I can only say LeoCorp has developed some cutting-edge technology—and that whoever attacked us must want that technology. They'll do whatever it takes to have it—up to and including mass murder."

"Masumi … what have you gotten yourself into?" She had never dreamed her mother could sound so scared.

"I wish I knew that, too." She swallowed. "Mother … Father … I want you to know how hard it was for me to open up to you about this. Not all of it was because the headmistress told me I should keep quiet. I've become a part of something big. How big it is, I don't know. But I do know that I can't risk you getting involved."

She rose to her feet, so as to look them both in the eye. "Thirty-two people died last night because _I_ got involved—and you could have died, too, for no other reason than simply being in the wrong place at the wrong time."

"Masumi … "

But the Fusion user cut her mother off with a gesture. "You told me last night that you weren't sure if LDS had my best interests at heart. You told me that if I ever had children, you'd want to know they were safe, if something bad happened to them. No one should ever have to bury their own child; I understand that.

"But sometimes the opposite is true." She paused. "Sometimes little kids get scared that they won't ever see their parents again, if they're away for a long time." She paused to take in her mother's reaction. "And that's the _other_ reason why I didn't tell you before. Because deep down, I believed that the less you knew, the safer you and Father would be. Now that you know what I've been doing, I'm worried you're going to get attacked again—and that I'd have to be the one to save you instead … "

But her voice was shivering again; she could not finish her sentence. The thought of her parents being in mortal danger—let alone danger the likes of which Seika had already put her in—was one she could not stomach.

No one spoke again for a while. Both her mother and her father looked as though they were trying to find the right words to say.

"Masumi … " her father eventually said, "we'd be fools to talk you out of this. You're involved now, as you said—you deserve to find whatever answers are out there. We were wrong to hold your future over your head, the way we did last night."

"But we are still very concerned about how your principal is treating all this," her mother added. "That press conference she gave last night didn't exactly install a sense of confidence in everyone. If she can prove that she genuinely means the best for you—for everyone who goes to LDS—then we won't speak of it again."

Masumi felt a smile crease her face—though it was a very half-hearted one. The implication that the future of her Dueling education was not only still on the table, but further hinged upon the opinion of a woman who'd shown no ethical qualms in playing pinball with her students' physical and mental fitness, was hardly a welcome thought.

"You've grown so much … so brave." Her father was staring at her with one of the warmest smiles she'd ever seen him wear. "You really are turning into your mother."

For a girl who had the makings of a Lancer, such a compliment was extravagant praise, and Masumi made sure her father knew it by giving him a bear hug that would have made her mother prouder still—though, perhaps, not nearly as bone-crushing.

* * *

There was nothing to be said after that. Masumi, buoyed by the encouraging words, allowed her parents to guide her back to the ward she'd been kept in, where Shen, Yaiba, and the nurse who was checking on their progress were no doubt waiting for her. She hoped too much time hadn't been lost in spilling the beans to her parents.

So it was that she said her goodbyes and entered the ward, preparing to apologize for her absence—only to be greeted with an unexpected sight.

"Heya, Masu- _chan_."

"Hey … "

It felt as though Masumi's heart had been inflated, soaring right past her lungs and well into her throat. "Hotene! Fuyu!" she managed to gasp out. "You're all right?"

They didn't look it—both the Junior Fusion Duelist and the Xyz Duelist looked noticeably put out. Hotene's difference in mood was more noticeable, along with her appearance—the bandage that encircled her messy hair was almost comical in its size. Only a few strands of messy blonde hair were visible under the sheer amount of gauze that was helping to heal her injury.

Fuyu, on the other hand, had always been a frail sort, and not one to be enthusiastic about many things. But his current demeanor still reminded Masumi of the first day they'd met—when he'd been so devastated by the loss of Shijima Hokuto that he'd refused to eat, change clothes, or leave his room in the week that had followed.

His face, too, was different—and an instant later, a horrified Masumi realized why. There were faint hints of scars lining one whole side of Fuyu's face, crisscrossing his pale features with jagged marks that slashed down at a diagonal. They almost looked like old wounds from an animal attack—almost, in that Masumi knew full well those scars hadn't been there yesterday.

There was also one more difference in the sling that currently adorned Fuyu's left arm—specially crafted so that his Duel Disk would still be accessible. Or perhaps they still couldn't risk taking it off, Masumi thought; if Fuyu's ordeal had been anything like hers, who knew how many burns he'd suffered on his body?

Yet all this was rendered moot by the simple fact that her friends—all her friends—were well and truly alive.

"We managed to get them conscious a few minutes ago," Nurse Fujiwara said from between Fuyu and Hotene. "I've been checking up on their progress so far, and I have to say, this serum is a miracle worker."

Masumi felt her heart wobble a few inches at the mention of the word "serum". "Yeah … " she mumbled.

"I'm going to recommend a temporary discharge as soon as this latest round of tests comes through," Fujiwara told them, not seeing Masumi's sudden change in mood. "That said, you'll all have to avoid Action Duels for a while—doctor's orders. You two most of all," she said to Hotene and Fuyu. "Hotene, dear, you have to keep those bandages on to let your head heal—so don't go picking at them. And Fuyu, you'll have to wear that sling for a little while so your bones can reset—"

"Bones?!" Masumi blurted the word before she could stop herself. On top of everything else, Fuyu had actually broken his arm?!

"When Seika beat me in our Duel," the Xyz Duelist explained, "the shockwave threw me into a wall. My arm took the worst of the impact, the nurse said. But it could have been a lot worse."

"How are your parents?"

"They've told me my mom's being treated for shock," he replied, "but other than that, she's fine. She was in the planetarium itself when Seika appeared, and she was able to get everyone inside out the back way. My father … "

Fuyu paused here, apparently unsure what to say next. "Well … he _survived_."

He spoke the word as if it caused him great pain. "Survived?" Masumi echoed.

"He was a lot closer to Seika than I was when he blew up the front door." Fuyu's voice was heavy; he seemed to halt and plod through every other word. "The nurse said he only took a glancing blow from the shockwave. There was a lot of broken glass that got tossed around in that explosion; if either one of us had taken a direct hit—well, you can imagine how handsome I'd look after _that_ ," he said, grimacing as he indicated his facial scars—which Masumi had begun to suspect hadn't been fully healed by Himika's serum—and likely, she thought, never would.

It didn't sound as though Fuyu's father had been scarred the way he had, however. "So why say he _survived_ , instead of just saying he's _okay_?"

"Because that 'glancing blow' smacked him right into a wall," Fuyu muttered. "Unlike me, his _head_ hit first."

Masumi clapped a hand to her mouth.

"The noise he made when he … " Fuyu made a huge shiver. "I overheard that if it was anything stronger than drywall, he'd have died on impact. At best, he's got a concussion … almost certainly a broken neck. At worst … "

He sucked air through his teeth, and shook his head. Masumi understood only too well; she'd learned in her health classes what could happen to a person if their spine was too badly injured.

She'd met Fuyu's father shortly before meeting Fuyu himself; the man had looked in exceptional fitness for his age, a stark contrast to his sickly son. The notion of him being paralyzed for life because of Seika—of something that wasn't his fault in any way—was sickening to him.

It was this moment, perhaps, that sobered her up. What had once started as a high-tech mystery had now morphed into a full-blown assassination attempt, with immense collateral damage. All five of them, and many more people besides, had had their lives irreversibly altered because of Seika. People close to them had been hurt because of him—still others had been _killed_ because of him—and none of them had deserved it.

The LID shared this moment in silence, staring at one another with the sort of resolve that is so often forged by bloodshed, loss, and grief. In that moment, they silently vowed that Seika would pay for what he had done.

 _We will bring him down_ , Masumi thought angrily. _And we will make him wish he'd never been born_.

* * *

 _2:15 P.M._

Masumi, Yaiba, Hotene, Shen, and Fuyu left the hospital less than eight hours, four tests, and two meals later. As Nurse Fujiwara had said, the discharge was only temporary; as far as they knew, the serum was doing what it had been designed to do—but the fact remained that it was still a highly experimental technology. No one wanted to leave things to chance where so many young people were concerned—Himika's wishes be damned—and so, on top of all that, they'd been ordered for readmission after a twenty-four-hour period.

This, Masumi knew, effectively meant that the LID only had one day—the _rest_ of the day, most likely—to solve a mystery that only seemed to get murkier with each passing moment. So they'd wasted no time in charting a bus to the Leo Duel School to meet up with Himika. The headmistress had called her on the way over, saying only that she wanted them to come up to her office the moment they arrived before hanging up.

Following that unusually brief conversation, Masumi had taken it upon herself to talk strategy on the way over, speaking more in detail about the equally mysterious _Infernoid_ monsters they'd each had to Duel the day before.

"So we already know they have to banish other _Infernoids_ to Summon themselves," she said, soft enough that the indistinct babble of the commuters surrounding them proved more than enough to mask their conversation. "The weaker ones only need the one, but the stronger ones need two monsters to banish from the hand or the Graveyard."

"Or the field," Yaiba pointed out from beside her. "That _Flood of Purgatory_ card solves a lot of drawbacks that a Deck like that might otherwise have. Those Tokens it can Summon can be banished like any other monster—they just leave the field instead. Doesn't help that it seems to be built into Seika's Duel Disk, either," he grumbled.

"Don't I know it—and then there's the self-mill thing." Masumi remembered Seika's two Continuous Traps, _Awakening Purgatory_ and _Rising Purgatory_. "It lets Seika keep a steady supply of _Infernoids_ in his Graveyard, no matter how they're sent there—and the more of them he has in his Graveyard, the more of his bigger monsters that he can Summon. And since _those_ can just be Summoned right back from the Graveyard, we can't simply just _destroy_ them. We've got to find out other ways of removing them from the field."

"Especially because of that Continuous Spell he used—that _Purgatory Extinguishment_ , I think he called it." Fuyu's left arm—the one still bearing his singed Duel Disk—dangled dangerously from his sling as he spoke. "It may be a one-off, but he can still bring back his banished monsters more easily than we can. Well," he amended with a quick look at Hotene, "more easily than _most_ of us can."

"It's not just that," Yaiba said. "If we return an _Infernoid_ to the hand, Seika can just Summon it back next turn. If we shuffle it into the Deck, he can just mill it with one of his Traps. And even if we try banishing one, he can just put it back in his Graveyard with that _other_ Trap. There aren't that many cards in the game that can do that to more than one monster—no mess, no fuss. Certainly not in our own Decks," he sighed lamely. "Plus, even if we tried, Seika can remove any threat to his _Infernoids_ just as easily."

Masumi did some thinking. "From what I've seen, it takes longer for Seika to recover his banished monsters than any that might be sent to his Graveyard, or back into his Deck or hand. That might be the key. If we can seal off both his Graveyard _and_ his ability to banish _Infernoids_ , I think we can stand a chance of beating Seika then."

"I still don't get somethin', though, Masu- _chan_." The Hotene that had walked out of the hospital beside them— _walked_ , not _skipped_ , as she'd been known to do before—was becoming more and more different from the rowdy nine-year-old Masumi had grown used to knowing. It might have been because of the wounds she'd received from Seika. Or it might have been the fact that her best friend Rika wasn't with her—that not being LID, the Junior Synchro Duelist didn't have the privilege of temporary discharge, and was therefore unable to accompany them out of Maiami General for their forthcoming meeting.

Whatever the reason, something had changed in Hotene. The questioning nature every child like her possessed seemed to have taken full root in her, and she seemed determined at the very least to find an answer to every query that might have been bouncing around in the tiny Duelist's brain as if it was inside _Gravity Sixteen_. Masumi didn't doubt the same questions existed in her own head.

 _Who are we dealing with?_

 _Why does Seika want to kill us?_

 _And what can we do to keep this from happening again?_

So she indulged. "What's on your mind, Hotene?"

"It's the way he has to Summon those _Infernoids_ in the first place." Hotene wondered out loud. "Why'd Seika say the Levels _an'_ the Ranks couldn't be more than eight? Why _eight_ at all? I know some of the really strong monsters in _Duel Monsters_ hafta say you can't play 'em unless you do _this_ or you already did _that_ —but a whole bunch o' the same monsters having rules like that—an' the _same_ rules, too—is just _weird_."

"More to the point, why tell us anything at all?" Shen, too, had changed since the attack, Masumi was beginning to see—though his was a more subtle transformation than Hotene's, Masumi's keen eyes had seen the way he set his jaw, seen how his eyes were now almost perpetually narrowed. Perhaps Shen—the noblest of the group by far—did not believe in the thought of administering revenge upon Seika for the loss of his colleagues … but the boy wanted to see _justice_ , there was no doubt about that, and Masumi couldn't help but wonder if Shen was headstrong enough to want to be the one who delivered that justice personally.

At a glance from her, he continued, "I have noticed that it is the tendency of Duelists to announce their cards and effects—and even their attacks—to the four winds whenever they should play one. Even I am not immune to this.

"But it is one thing to make such announcements in a public venue—a tournament, for example. Perhaps the spectators have never seen how a Duelist's strategies and cards therein might function, and so require a verbal explanation so as to better follow the Duel in progress. Seika, however, was in no such venue. He went out of his way to Duel us in a way that was far removed from the public eye—he intended to make our unfortunate fates appear to be an accident. And yet he still told us many things about how his _Infernoids_ worked."

Masumi had known Shen long enough to believe he was a very shrewd person for his age, a cunning Duelist who could use his unnatural strength to wow and confuse his opponents and spectators alike. For all the loss he'd had to endure, he sounded no different today; it was apparent he'd already begun to entertain a theory of his own.

"Okay, Shen; I'll bite. What are you thinking?"

Shen leaned in close. "I am thinking," he said quietly, "of how Seika made mention of his monsters requiring a totality of Levels _and_ Ranks among them in order for him to Summon his _Infernoids_. I am thinking of the one monster he Summoned that was a _Tuner_ monster—yet was not used to Tune for a Synchro Summon in any of our Duels in which said Tuner was played."

His dark eyes were narrow, furtive. "I am also thinking of Himika's haste in naming him an agent of the Fusion Dimension—despite him possessing no such monsters to confirm him as such."

Masumi had been thinking the same thing. "You believe Himika's wrong, then? That Seika isn't with Academia?"

Shen did not answer for a few moments. "When you dreamed of Dueling that Psychic Duelist last month," he said, "you said later that she had been very quick to Summon her Fusion Monsters—multiple times in her first turn, even. At first I was willing to accept that as part of her strategy—those monsters did possess devastating effects, after all."

The Fusion user couldn't help but agree.

"But we at LDS are also guilty of the same thing—of being quick to prove our prowess in whatever Summoning method we specialize in. I need hardly remind you that on the first turn of our first Duel together, Masumi, you Summoned no less than _three_ different Fusion Monsters to your field."

Masumi failed to hide the flush in her cheeks. "In my defense, I'd found a really good Action Card … "

"Irrelevant. My point still stands: however subconsciously, you wanted to show off against me. Yaiba likes to show off against me as well, whenever we practice together. Even the invaders of Academia wanted their victims to know they used Fusion as well."

Masumi bit her lip. "So?"

Shen's eyes narrowed further still. "Why has Seika not done the same? His monsters' Summoning procedures make note of Levels _and_ Ranks, as Hotene has mentioned—but he has Summoned no Xyz Monsters. One of his monsters is a Tuner—yet Seika has shown no evidence that he is proficient in Synchro Summoning, either."

"Fusion or Ritual, then," shrugged Masumi.

Shen shook his head. "Have you not been listening to what I am telling you? If Seika specialized in any type of Summoning method, we would have seen it by now."

He sat back in his seat. "Which is why I am thinking that Seika _has_ no methods of Extra Deck Summoning at his disposal. He is simply attempting to mislead us as to who he is, and what he is capable of doing with his Deck."

Masumi thought she was beginning to understand. "So he's not some Duelist from another dimension, then. He's just a guy in a mask who wants to make us all afraid of him."

She pursed her lips. "In other words, he's a terrorist."

Shen did not answer. Masumi suspected he did not need to; she had made his deduction for him.

"I am hoping," he finally said, "that we will know soon enough."

* * *

By half past noon they'd arrived at LDS. The woman at the security desk flagged them down as they walked past.

"Himika said you'd be on your way." She'd cradled the receiver of her phone on her shoulder, lowering it from her lips so she could talk without being overheard. "I just want you to know that she's with some visitors right now."

"Visitors?" Masumi couldn't help but take a stab in the dark. "They wouldn't be American, would they?"

"I couldn't say; I wasn't on shift when they came in. But I do know that several people from the R&D division are with her right now, too. Must be a pretty important meeting; it's been going on for hours right now."

"Must be," shrugged the Fusion user, wondering how much—or how little—the receptionist knew of what was going on. "Can you buzz her and let her know we're coming up to see her?"

The woman gestured to her phone. "As soon as I'm done with this call."

"Thanks." Masumi headed for the elevators, feeling a sudden sensation in her stomach akin to butterflies behaving like pinballs—a sentiment, she suspected, was shared by everyone else with her. No doubt Hotene and Fuyu had been brought up to speed on how Himika had been behaving when she'd contacted them this morning.

Masumi suspected these Americans—whoever they'd decided to send—could be the only people capable of instilling anything close to resembling fear in her principal.

* * *

The elevator ride was uneventful—and perhaps all the more stressful because of it; no one had spoken a word from the moment the doors had closed to the final ding of the bell.

The LID filed out, apprehension mounting as Himika's door loomed closer and closer. At least one voice could be heard from the other side. One was instantly recognizable as the headmistress' own, though it was impossible to tell what she might be saying. Then another voice spoke up—this one a male, and totally unfamiliar to Masumi's ears.

"—regrettable, but all the same—"

The tone was smooth as velvet, and eye-of-the-storm calm. No Japanese man had a voice like that. But, again, the door muffled too much noise for her to be exactly sure what was being said on the other side. She decided to risk eavesdropping.

But a sudden explosion of noise from behind the door rendered any need to sneak around completely unnecessary.

"You should have told me this from the beginning! Your negligence has stained your hands with the blood of _children!_ "

Masumi stopped dead in her tracks, and her friends came up short behind her. None of them had ever heard Himika in a real temper before. The Fusion Duelist in particular had never thought the headmistress of LDS even possessed a temper to lose at all, so calm and collected did she often appear in the presence of others.

Before any of them could register this change in her behavior, a second voice had emerged. "Miss Himika, compose yourself!" This one was also male, though much more forceful in his words. Masumi's first thought was that he might be military, or had been at one time; he sounded as though he had just the right amount of ramrod left in his spine to be a person who brooked no debate.

There was a THUD. It sounded as though Himika had pounded her fist on the table. "I'll compose myself _after_ you've told me what I want to know!" she raged. Her guests' calls for order only seemed to have made her madder.

Masumi looked at Yaiba. He didn't seem to trust himself to speak any more than she did. But his eyes said enough: _What the hell's going on in there?!_

The first voice brought them back to the closed door. Masumi decided his name would be 'Velvet' for now. "Miss Himika, you are aware of who we represent. Surely you're not suggesting we were complicit in this, _were you_?"

Even through the closed door, Masumi could hear the veiled threat behind the last two words. So, too, it seemed, did Himika. A long moment passed before she spoke again; now she was substantially quieter—but no less angry for it. Indeed, every word sounded as though it was being hissed through clenched teeth.

"If you had shared this information with me the moment J.D. Crowley sent us his résumé, we might not be having this conversation." Masumi had to edge closer to the door to hear Himika speak. "He might still be with us today, and a hundred casualties might have been prevented—including the thirty-two that _died_ because of this technology. As far as I'm concerned, your failure to act _then_ is responsible for my failure to act _now_! I have every right to blame your lack of action for what happened yesterday!"

No one dared speak. All five members of the LID were hanging on every word they were hearing. Hotene had gone one step further, clinging to Shen's waist like a lifeline, her eyes wide. Shen was too absorbed in the row to protest.

The first voice—for want of a name, Masumi had taken to calling _him_ 'Ramrod'—spoke up again. "Declassifying material is not as simple a process as every other show on television would like to imply, ma'am," he said, his tone placating. "Those are DARPA's words, not ours."

Another pause. "Excuse me," Himika said curtly. "Yes?" She must have pressed a switch of some kind, because Masumi soon heard a fourth voice echoing through a speaker—one she recognized as the receptionist that had admitted them into the campus a few minutes ago.

"Himika- _san_ , Nakajima patched me through. The visitors you've been expecting have arrived. They should be outside your office any moment."

"Very good." The two words made Masumi's heart sink an inch. This sounded like a conversation that wasn't fit for her to sit in on, let alone any of the other children with her. But there was nothing for it: Himika intended to show them inside. Whether that meant this discussion was to continue was not up to them to decide.

"I take that to mean the LID we've heard so much about will be joining us?"

Velvet's query did nothing to reassure Masumi. He knew about the LID—and very likely the man with him, too. But how much _did_ they know? How much was Himika willing to tell _them_?

"We do not agree with your choice in candidates, Miss Himika." Ramrod. "If this were up to the president—"

"Fortunately, it is not." Himika's interruption was hard as steel, and rapidly edging towards hostile. "And may I just say, gentlemen, there are _many_ things I would like to say about your president. There are many more things I would like to say _to_ him." A sigh. "However, as their relevance to your visit is tangential at best, I will spare you from having to hear them. Suffice it to say, I am _not_ happy with you _or_ your government right now—and you had better be prepared to give me a _damned_ good reason why that opinion should change by the time I open this door."

There was the click of heels, getting closer and closer to them. Immediately, Masumi scrambled back—

The door swung open, revealing an Akaba Himika whose face was as brilliantly pink as her dress. Her nose was flaring, and Masumi just barely saw her fists unclench as she saw them for the first time since yesterday.

"Wonderful timing," she muttered to them. "Come on in. I'll make this as brief as I can."

Masumi found herself and the others hastily shooed into the office. It was just as spacious as she remembered it from the last time she'd been here—the only difference being that there were almost twice as many people inside. Three of them, all Japanese men, were hanging back at the walls, their eyes not wavering from Himika one inch as they awaited her acknowledgement. The Fusion Duelist was quick to note they wore the distinctive coats of the personnel she'd seen inside LeoCorp's R&D department; in fact, one of them was recognizable by his mustache as the man they'd seen talk with Himika in testing bay three, during their first meeting with Q.

Across from Himika's desk stood two other man, though chairs had been offered to them. One was a stocky-looking man about a head taller than Shen—early-thirties, with close-shaven brown hair. Everything about him—from the blue suit that for some reason didn't look properly tailored to his body, to the sunglasses that concealed his eyes, and especially the translucent wire had been tucked behind his left ear—smacked of a classic government "spook". She had the impression the eyes behind those sunglasses were looking right at her.

A distinct chill raced down her spine.

The man behind and to his left was of about the same age as his companion. This had to be the man she'd called "Ramrod" in her head; he was unmistakably a military man, even without the dark green dress uniform he was currently wearing. There was nothing soft about him—no smooth lines or curves in his build to speak of. His facial features were angular and craggy; his clothes looked so meticulously cared for that the creases looked knife-sharp. Even his hair—a black crew cut that couldn't have been more than a week old—looked as if each individual follicle had been straightened with a ruler.

Both "Ramrod" and the man in the suit—"Velvet"—were Caucasian, and clearly American; formally dressed though they were, there was something in their facial expressions that Masumi was quick to equate with a perceived sense of superiority. These men had dressed to make an impression—they wanted to make it clear to Himika that their home country was treating this business with Crowley _very_ seriously.

"Gentlemen." Himika had sat back down with no preamble—she wanted to get straight to this business herself. "I'd like to introduce the Leo Duel School's recently created Section of Investigation and Defense—Kōtsu Masumi, Tōdō Yaiba, Menoko Hotene, Li Shen, and Rokkaku Fuyu."

"Pleasure to meet you," grunted Ramrod from where he stood.

"However, we already know who they are," added Velvet. "You most of all."

This time, there was no mistaking it—he was looking _right at Masumi_. "You're their founder—the one who put them all together." It wasn't a question. "Not even fifteen years old, and you've already got your own file at Langley. Defeating a psychic Duelist at her own game tends to lend you that distinction."

It was hard to tell if that was a compliment. Masumi certainly didn't think so—and apparently, neither did Himika.

"Then you should _also_ be aware that these children are survivors of last night's attacks," the headmistress said coolly, "and that they have come to deliver information we hope is vital in capturing the perpetrator responsible."

She turned to the LID. "As you may have guessed, these men are representatives of the American government: Special Agent Moss, Central Intelligence Agency"—she pointed first to the man Masumi had called Velvet, then to Ramrod—"and Captain Timothy Reed, Defense Criminal Investigative Service, Office of the Inspector General, U.S. Department of Defense. You will show them the appropriate courtesy during their stay here."

Masumi noticed the way Himika's eyes furrowed at the word "appropriate", and knew instantly what Himika had meant by that: _Show them more courtesy than I'm about to … a_ lot _more_.

"I've also asked some of my R&D personnel to join us here," Himika continued, indicating the three men Masumi had seen earlier, "should anyone require more specific information than that which we intend to share here today."

She sat up in her seat. "Now—since we're all here," said the headmistress, "I suggest we take stock of each other's situations. Contrary to external appearances, we _are_ allies here, and the threat we are facing is a common menace."

She nodded at the LID, indicating one of them should make their report. Instantly, four pairs of eyes locked on to Masumi. The Fusion Duelist had been expecting that—having been the person who brought them all together, before Himika had even created this organization, it seemed natural they would look to her as their _de facto_ leader.

That didn't stop Masumi's throat from feeling rather tight, however—and in a manner that had nothing to do with yesterday's ordeal. She'd clammed up, and a cold sweat was beginning to break across her neck. The notion of giving an impromptu talk to the representatives of a foreign government—the most powerful government in the world, no less—was making her nervous as all hell. That said representatives were giving her stares that reminded her of Himika's own unblinking gaze was not helping matters in the slightest.

" … Sorry. I wasn't expecting to have to make a speech here," she muttered, in an attempt to break the ice.

" … Think nothing of it, Masumi. Consider it an oral report for one of your classes, if it helps." Himika's smile looked genteel enough, but the Fusion user knew her principal too well.

Nevertheless, she couldn't discount the advice, and when she decided— _what the hell_ —to launch right into it, she found it actually helped.

The Fusion Duelist started with a bare-bones account of how this had all started; she found it impossible to believe these men didn't already know about Crowley and Q. Most of her time, therefore, was spent describing her ordeal with Seika, and the all-too-brief Duel included therein; to give herself time to think of her next words, she paused at several points to let the rest of the LID chime in with their own experiences for as long as they felt comfortable.

" … so we believe we have what it takes to form a counterstrategy against these _Infernoids_ , if we have to face them again," Masumi finished. "Even so, we'd be going into _that_ fight with a lot less information than I'd prefer to work with. None of us knows right now if his Deck has any sort of end goal to it—and we certainly don't know where he might have come from. Shen"—she indicated the stoic Synchro user—"believes this Seika's some kind of terrorist. Who he might be affiliated with, we're not sure yet. But Shen sounds dead certain that he's _not_ part of Academia."

Shen made a perfunctory nod to confirm what she'd said. Himika, who had up to this point been listening intently, finally reacted by quietly sucking air through her teeth—a noticeable sign of displeasure.

"I'd hoped you wouldn't say that," she said quietly. "I imagine you've seen the news reports?"

Masumi had. "You pegged this Seika as a member of Academia from the get-go." Realization hit her. "You even made a public statement about it, too. Does this mean you'll have to retract your story?"

"It might … or it might not," was all that Himika could offer for an answer. "There aren't many people who know a Duel took place between the attacks and the rescue efforts that followed—and for the time being, I want it kept that way. Someone went to painstaking efforts to make that happen, too—all record of the data was erased from your Duel Disks, which means everything we know about this _Infernoid_ Deck is only because of the five of you."

"That's another thing I want to know," said Masumi. "How _was_ Seika able to erase all data of our Duels with him? For that matter, how the heck was he able to fight all of us at the same time, but in different locations? How could he make himself and other things float in the air?"

A horrible thought suddenly occurred to her. "Is he … could he be another Psychic Duelist?"

One of the LeoCorp technicians stepped forward at that moment. "With your permission, Himika- _san_ ," he said, "I believe we can at least _partially_ explain." A pause. "But I cannot guarantee that they will like what they'll hear."

"We've heard bad news before." Yaiba crossed his arms. "We can take it."

A brief nod from Himika was all the confirmation they needed. "Proceed."

The man—perhaps in his late twenties, Masumi wanted to say—produced a remote, pointing it at the section of wall nearest him. One push of a button activated switched on a flat-screen TV that hadn't been in this office last time; Masumi could only guess they'd wheeled it in from R&D.

"What we're about to show you is security footage that was taken yesterday at two points prior to when the five of you were attacked," the man explained. "I think you might recognize the location."

The screen flared on—and Masumi did. She had no trouble recognizing herself and the other members of the LID on the cluttered floor of testing bay three, where the monolithic Q-mainframe still stood amidst the wreckage.

Something about the way they were all standing jogged her memory. "Was this taken before I Dueled Q?"

The technician nodded. "That's right. Now keep your eyes on section gamma-three—here," he circled a portion of the screen depicting Q's black-glass body. "Freeze picture. Magnify that section of footage by ten."

Instantly, voice-activated software kicked in; all movement on the camera ceased, and just as quickly, the camera began to zoom in. The onyx slab of Q began to grow larger; before long, it filled the entire left half of the screen. But the level of magnification had pixelated the entire picture; it didn't take long for that smooth ebon glass to look like a roughly hewn chunk of obsidian.

"I can't see a thing," Hotene was heard to whisper to Fuyu. The Xyz Duelist quickly shushed her.

"Keep going, Sakamura," Himika said to the technician. Her voice was unusually tense. "Show them what I saw yesterday."

"Okay." Sakamura took a deep breath. "Enhance gamma-three."

Masumi's eyes flicked back to the screen. The image sharpened, to the point that the Q-mainframe's edge looked almost as sharp as the creases on Captain Reed's uniform.

"Play at one-tenth speed."

The picture was magnified enough that Masumi's image on the screen was no longer visible—or any other human figure, for that matter. All there was to indicate any passage of time on this footage was the slight vibration of pixels as it moved from one frame to the next, five at a time. The black slab of Q remained completely inert but for the lights that danced on its body—

"What the—"

Yaiba had leapt forward just then. His eyes were narrowed; he was staring intently at the TV. "Do you see that?"

Masumi wasn't sure what Yaiba was implying. "Follow my finger," the Synchro Duelist told her, and she leant in close as he pointed to the half of the screen that showed—apparently—nothing but more vibrating pixels and dark gray background.

She shook her head. "What am I supposed to be seeing?"

"Look at the background." Yaiba began tracing his finger in a path for Masumi to follow.

"Are you talking about those vibrating pixels?" Masumi frowned. "It's probably a digital artifact. You've taken computer classes in school—these happen all the time when you're trying to encode digital media—"

"No, Masumi." Yaiba looked pale. "That's no artifact. That's _Seika!_ "

The Fusion user's mouth fell open. She wasn't the only one surprised; Hotene's eyes were wide as coins. Fuyu looked as though he'd been on the receiving end of a particularly nasty electric shock.

Masumi's mind was racing at light speed. "That's impossible," she said quickly.

Yaiba had walked up to the television now, despite his suddenly shaky legs, and was physically tracing his finger on the screen. "We all know what Seika looks like," he addressed the room. "Black cloak that hides his face—but he's also got that big piece of metal hovering behind his back that he uses for a Duel Disk. Looks like a sideways C?"

He now brought his finger along a wide arc, starting from around the edge of Q's mainframe to the bottom right corner of the screen.

And this time, Masumi saw it: the vibrating pixels she'd seen earlier ran precisely along that curve—the exact same curve, she now knew, that Yaiba had mentioned—the edge of that spiked, heavy arch. Nor did it stop there; if she concentrated, she could almost see the edge of the black cloak she knew to conceal Seika's body—and even a slice of the hood that hid his face, near the edge of the Q-mainframe.

Yaiba was right—somehow, some way, Seika had gotten inside testing bay three— _without anyone noticing_.

"How did you even _see_ that?!" Masumi was surprised to hear her voice sound so small.

"At first, I saw the same thing you did," Yaiba told her. "I thought those pixels were just an artifact of some kind—like the image was lagging in places. But then I saw how regular it looked. And the longer I stared at it, the more I noticed those pixels were all vibrating along a _straight line_. No visual tearing is that smooth. So that told me either one of two things—the more likely explanation was that the footage had been doctored, but why would Himika want to show us Photoshopped security footage?"

Masumi had no answer to that.

"Exactly. The only other explanation was that someone was _already there_ —only he was concealed from our eyes somehow—invisible—and the camera's sensors were able to see what we never could."

Yaiba rounded on Sakamura. "How long was he there?"

"There's no way to tell for certain," said one of the other technicians alongside Sakamura. A tag on his breast pocket showed his name to be "Tanaka". "But it does corroborate with what Seika told Masumi prior to her Duel with him. It does indeed appear that he was responsible for whatever happened to J.D. Crowley—and as far as we can tell, he is also responsible for sabotaging Q."

 _Sabotage?!_ "How do you know that?" Masumi demanded.

"Because what happened forty minutes later is all the proof we need," Sakamura told her. "Fast-forward to specified time index. Replay at normal speed and magnification."

There followed a bloom of activity on the television as many things seemed to happen all at once. Masumi's Duel with Q—already laughably brief—passed by in the time it took to draw breath. She barely saw herself leaving with the rest of the LID mere seconds after that, so rapidly was everything moving on the screen—and while this was going on, the picture continued to zoom out, until it overlooked the entire testing bay.

Finally, a few moments later, the image slowed, showing once again a deserted chamber filled with nothing but Q and a load of debris.

"Any second now," Masumi heard Sakamura mutter.

Hotene gasped all of a sudden—and it was apparent to everyone why.

Barely a few feet away from Q, a black shadow had shimmered into being. Then it had solidified—and right before a stunned Masumi's eyes, the black cloak and C-shaped Duel Disk of Seika had manifested, seemingly out of thin air.

She watched, jaw slack, as Seika crossed over to one of the computers that still remained functional after his _Infernoid's_ rampage. What he was doing wasn't clear, but from the way Q's black-glass body had suddenly lit up like a fireworks display, it was immediately easy to guess.

"This footage took place less than one minute after a software patch was sent to your Duel Disks," Sakamura explained. "This patch was intended to link your Disks with Q's primary mainframe—the idea being that he could interface with any nearby Solid Vision generator in the vicinity to assist you in a Duel, if the situation required it."

Masumi remembered Himika explaining something about a software update—and a sudden, nasty conclusion sprang into her mind. _Was that how he—?!_

"When I saw that security footage," Himika piped up, "I immediately realized what was about to happen, and I attempted to halt the download. But by then, it was too late; Seika had used that software patch to triangulate your exact coordinates within Maiami City, and he hijacked the Solid Vision networks to further compromise your position from there. This was how he was able to track you down so quickly—and more to the point, how he was able to Duel every one of you individually."

Masumi cursed under her breath as her worst fears were confirmed.

Yaiba threw up his hands. "Can—can we recap for a sec?" He sounded at his wit's end as he stared at Himika. "Just so I understand how completely _out of our league_ we are? You're telling us that this Seika is capable of"—he began ticking off fingers—"hacking our Duel Disks, hacking a _supercomputer_ , self-duplication, self-levitation, _teleportation_ , _telekinesis_ , **_and_** —as if that wasn't enough—he can make himself invisible as well?! To the point that we didn't even know he was in the same room as us until _just now_?!"

The headmistress' face did not even twitch. "That is correct."

Yaiba looked utterly lost as he tottered back to his seat. Fuyu looked even more so. "What _is_ he?" he rasped.

"'He' would imply that Seika is _human_ at all." Himika rose from her seat at last. Her face was grave. "However, I am afraid the truth of the matter is far more complex. Seika is unlike any Duelist that you—or indeed, any one of us—has ever faced … and J.D. Crowley figures much more into this affair than I was led to believe. Gentlemen?"

She nodded at the Americans. Captain Timothy Reed, who had yet to speak up ever since Masumi and the others had arrived in the office, stepped forward before any of the LID could voice their confusion.

"These are the facts," he began, in a clipped voice as precise as the rest of him. "While he was an honors student at California, Berkeley, Jonathan Crowley was approached by DARPA, the agency of the U.S. Department of Defense that deals with advanced research projects. My superiors and I within the DOD believed that the concept of Real Solid Vision had military applications, and we therefore studied methods of applying this emergent technology in combat situations."

Masumi traded glimpses with her friends. If not for previous experience, the notion of _Duel Monsters_ being used to fight wars would have been extremely unsettling. As it was, they were merely intrigued that entities in the Standard Dimension were beginning to examine the same concept.

"Crowley's background in computer science," Reed went on, "gave him the opportunity to program a prototype of technology that could, in theory, be used to manipulate Real Solid Vision— _without the aid of an active Action Field_. Following his graduation," he continued, raising his voice slightly, for Masumi and her friends had made several noises of disbelief at this statement, "and enrollment at the University of Tokyo, all interaction between him and our agency was classified by Mr. Moss here"—he gestured to his companion—"in order to protect their efforts from being noticed by foreign entities. However, the prototype Crowley helped to create was recently stolen by a perpetrator or perpetrators unknown to us—and later turned into a weapon."

Masumi couldn't believe what she was hearing. Solid Vision _without Duels?_ And that wasn't even getting into the other thing—it was enough to hear that J.D. Crowley had apparently been living a double life before his time at LeoCorp—but to hear that he'd had a hand in trying to militarize this powerful technology?

"The entity you call Seika," Himika said quietly, "is that weapon."

Yaiba sprang to his feet. "He's _what_?!"

"It's … better if I show you," Sakamura said. "I'll do my best to explain it." He pressed another button on his remote, and a different image instantly popped up—not more camera footage, but a static image of what looked like a screenshot from a command-line interface:

* * *

on seika•exe call link•sst {rsv, svni•exe} set to on

on seika•exe input line rf \u00e6_lohim•obj, \u00e6_lohim•exe, lohim•obj

* * *

"What you're seeing here," Sakamura explained, "is a bit of code that we found inside Q during the diagnostic we ran on him immediately following the attacks. We've already checked the edit history of this particular section of code, and we were able to confirm that the time of its addition happened right before those explosions took place. That means these lines of code were introduced into Q's programming remotely—and deliberately."

Yaiba swore under his breath.

"On first glance, it appears to be an executable file—note the extension '•exe'," added Tanaka. "But when we searched Q's files for anything marked 'seika•exe', it didn't show up. So we tried a code search instead, and this was what we found."

"So it's not a file?" Masumi said hesitantly. "It's a _command_?" She knew very little about computers—certainly not enough to understand what was going on here. But even she knew that if LeoCorp had had to dig into individual lines of code to find the root cause of their problems with Q, those problems had to be _big_.

"Not just any command." Sakamura indicated the part in braces. "seika•exe was designed to access the Real Solid Vision subroutines in Q's systems, and then link them to this 'svni•exe', which we can only assume brings them under Seika's direct control—right before activating them."

Reed and Moss traded glances. Shen, meanwhile, had stiffened where he sat. "You mean to say—"

"Yes," replied Tanaka. "Understand: there's a lot we still don't know about what's going on here. We only know that it may well be just the tip of the iceberg. The only reason we found that seika•exe command as quickly as we did was because it was the most recent edit to Q's entire program. Finding anything beyond that—these svni•exe and lohim•obj files, whatever they are—is going to take a lot longer. For all we know, they could be dummies—meant to disguise seika•exe as something besides what it actually is."

"Which would be?"

Tanaka slumped. "As I said, we're still trying to find out _how_ … but this one command allowed Seika to compromise not only Q's holographic hardware—but the entire RSV network throughout Maiami City with it."

The Fusion Duelist nearly fell out of her chair. "Two lines of code did _that?!_ " she whispered in total disbelief. "How in the _heck_ did Seika know how to hack even _one_ program that complicated—let alone _two_?!"

"Seika did not hack the program." Himika's eyes were like ice. "Seika _is_ the program."

Masumi really _did_ fall out of her chair at that. She was too stunned—both from the fall and from Himika's reply—to form any coherent response.

Himika waited for her to pick herself off the floor before she spoke again. When she did, every word was heavy with visibly suppressed anger.

"Seika is not a Psychic Duelist," she told them. "He … _it_ … is a hard-light construct that was adapted from a combination of DARPA's prototype technology, and the processing power of Project #1610217. To put it more simply, it is a highly complex computer virus that has been disseminated into Q's systems, and has assumed direct control over its Solid Vision generator protocols. This means that Seika can, quite literally, _control Solid Vision_ ; it allows him to manipulate real-world objects with hard-light such that they appear to the untrained eye as levitation, to bend that hard-light around himself as a means of camouflage—and finally, to manifest the hard-light avatars responsible for last night's destruction, and which I can only presume the five of you Dueled last night."

The Fusion user's brain was sagging under the weight of what she was hearing. A virus that could control Solid Vision?! And she'd been fighting that virus in the form of a hologram it had created … for the express purpose of Dueling the LID?

 _This is too much_ , she heard herself thinking, as if from a great distance away.

"And, as you know," Himika continued through gritted teeth, "it has already demonstrated the power to do so _outside of a Duel_. Power that _your military minds_ ," she suddenly screeched in the Americans' direction, " _were concealing from the rest of the world!_ "

All five jaws of the LID hit the floor. Even Shen looked shocked at the sudden tirade. Hotene's already-round eyes were fixing to take leave of her skull. Masumi, rooted to the ground, could feel the tension even from where she stood.

"Your entire administration could be nailed to the wall for this—and rightfully should be!" Himika fumed at the two men. "One phone call from my office, and your president will be knee-deep in a global scandal! It'd be more than enough to make him kiss his chances for reelection goodbye!"

Special Agent Moss hadn't even blinked. "Miss Himika," he sighed, "setting aside the _misguided_ notion that you, as a Japanese national, would have influence over any aspect of our nation's election process, this is a time for action—not for outrage. Screaming yourself hoarse at us won't bring these people back."

The headmistress glowered at him, but—through no small miracle, Masumi privately thought—managed to hold her tongue.

"Now, it's come to our attention that you've begun shipping out mass-production supercomputers designed from Q. The same Q that—to the best of our knowledge," Moss added, in an attempt to be placating, "is responsible for Crowley's disappearance."

Himika made a venomous-sounding hiss that Masumi thought sounded oddly like, "—Reiji would never—"

Reed, it seemed, had better ears. "This is no longer about what your son can or cannot do," he barked, his voice hard as flint. "And believe me, if we knew where he was, we'd be giving Reiji an earful along with you."

He stepped forward, producing a sheet of paper from his breast pocket and placing it on Himika's desk. "This is an order to turn over any and all blueprints and information on Project #1610217," he said, "as well as any derivative units you mass-produced or shipped out. You'll find it bears the signature of the U.S. Secretary of Defense."

Instantly, Masumi was alert. Her eyes had snapped to Himika, and her legs were tensing to run. The notion that someone would try to threaten one of Japan's most powerful women with legal action— _to her face_ —was one of the most brazen thoughts her mind had ever entertained. That the person issuing the threat was part of the most powerful government in the world somehow meant very little.

"It is our belief," Moss chimed in, "that this Seika was created with the eventual, ultimate intent to sabotage the Real Solid Vision network that connects your city. If it were to spread to any one of these derivative units, then _their_ networks would be at risk as well."

It was Yaiba's turn to whirl upon his headmistress. "Didn't you mention you'd sent these things to LDS' branch schools around the world?" He suddenly looked as white as the average Synchro Monster card.

Moss nodded curtly. "You see the problem."

 _Problem, nothing_ , thought a flabbergasted Masumi. If what Moss was implying was true, then the Solid Vision networks of _every major city on the planet_ could have been compromised because of Seika.

Fortunately, Himika used the shocked silence to swoop in. "I halted shipments after the initial incident took place."

Reed looked skeptical. "All of them?"

"If they're not sitting in the docks here," Himika explained, "they're at the docks of whichever city I assigned them, pending further orders from our board of directors. The only one that isn't in either location is the prototype currently residing in our testing bay.

"And I feel compelled to note," she added, "that you don't simply plug _these_ computers into the nearest wall socket and expect them to do your bidding. You need access codes. And per company policy, those are only given out _after_ installation, and then only through random generation. One wouldn't want this technology to fall into the _wrong hands_ , after all."

Even Hotene, from the way she shied back against Shen, clearly noted the animosity in that last sentence.

If Moss noted it as well, he chose not to acknowledge it. "You are … _absolutely certain_ that none of these units has been installed yet?"

The headmistress hardly blinked. "I can call to make sure. But," she shrugged, "as you know, LDS has many branch schools located around the world—and most of those locations are in cities that have a seaport of their own. Are you willing to give me the time I need to call each of these seaports, one by one, and confirm this for myself?"

Moss' brow furrowed less than a millimeter. There was a look in his eyes that Masumi did not like at all.

"I take your meaning," he said shortly. "You have twenty-four hours. The Captain and I will be beginning our investigation shortly. Best of luck to yours."

And with a signal to Reed, the two men moved towards the office door—except Masumi had suddenly stepped in their way.

"Mr.—er, _Captain_ Reed?" the Fusion user stammered. "Could I voice one last question?"

One look at Moss' face suggested now was not the time for questions. But a single glance passed between the two Americans, and Masumi thought she could hear the silent conversation that passed between them in that glance:

 _She's a kid._

 _She's also got her own file back home._

 _Does that matter? There's no way she'll ask about anything_ sensitive _._

Finally, Moss blinked. That seemed enough for Reed. "All right, then," he said heavily. "Let's hear it. But be quick about it."

Masumi took the hint, and obliged. "You mentioned Crowley's background in computer programming. What sort of programming did he do to get approached by your department?"

Reed exhaled. Masumi had the feeling he was trying to compress his answer to the point that a teenager could wrap their head around it. The task looked like hard work.

"Before his senior year at Berkeley," the Captain finally replied, "Crowley began writing an algorithm that—in theory—could mimic the physiological and behavioral biometrics of a human being, such as their heart rate, their eye color, and their voice. It's my understanding that some of these elements were used in Q's own program—I'm told it even has its own unique fingerprints. Anyway, Crowley explained in his senior thesis that such a program could be used to create holographic assistants for people who were either terminally ill or in assisted living."

The Fusion user frowned. "I don't follow."

"He wanted to give those people a friend."

Masumi whirled around in Fuyu's direction, shocked that he of all people would speak up in this setting. However, no one looked more surprised at his answer than the Xyz Duelist himself; the pale boy had cringed so as to hide his suddenly flushed face behind his silvery bangs.

Reed, for his part, shrugged. " … It's a bit more complicated than that, but I believe that was within his purview," he told Fuyu. "It is true that there are people who make a living out of helping the sick and elderly. However, there are some extreme cases—say, the patient carries a disease with a high rate of infection, or an equally high mortality rate, like any one of the Ebola viruses—where the persons responsible for their survival would be jeopardizing their own livelihood in caring for these people. However, if they're being treated by a Solid Vision hologram, that risk of the disease spreading is mitigated, if not eliminated outright."

"That still doesn't explain why a hologram would need a heartbeat," Masumi replied.

"Sometimes, the first step is as simple as a handshake and a 'How are you?'" Reed's face looked surprisingly soft, quite thoroughly at odds with the gung-ho persona Masumi had come to expect from his uniform. "Machines and medicine can do their part to heal your body and mind, but sometimes you're not _completely_ healed until you have that one little element of human interaction. I think _that_ —more than any sort of biometrics—is what Crowley wanted to simulate.

"As he said," he finished, gesturing to Fuyu, "I think he wanted to give those people a friend."

The Fusion Duelist had no idea how to respond to this. She gazed at the Xyz user, hoping he could clarify.

Fuyu took a deep, rattling breath. "You already know that when I was young," he rasped, "I was sick for a long time. I don't think you could ever understand without getting that sick yourself, Masumi—and I'd never want that for you. But I can tell you that out of all the treatments I was given to get better, I still think today that knowing Hokuto- _san_ was by my side through it all was the one that helped me most. If he wasn't there … "

He shrank back behind his hair again—and at last, Masumi understood. "You'd have needed one of Crowley's holograms," she finished for him.

Fuyu nodded from behind his silvery bangs.

"I should like to see a copy of Crowley's thesis, if at all possible," Himika spoke up just then. "If Crowley used some of its elements in helping to program Q, as you say, it may aid us in our own investigation."

"Agreed. We'll contact Berkeley at our earliest convenience." said Moss. "In the meantime, I think you'd better take us to Q. Its code needs to be examined line by line so we can figure out just how thoroughly Seika has managed to infiltrate its systems.

"We can do that just as easily in my office," Himika proposed. "I can reach out to my programmers and have them compile the information you need, and deliver it to us directly. I apologize, gentlemen, but in my company, my word is final. Until we've learned anything more than we already know, Q's mainframe is to stay deactivated until further notice—as long as that's the case, then Seika's reach will be severely diminished.

Reed made as if to voice an objection—but Himika had already beaten him to it. "I've already issued the orders, Captain," she said in a very final sort of way. "File whatever complaint you wish, but I am not going to endanger this city simply so you can expedite your investigation."

The DOD officer looked as though he had about five thousand complaints on the tip of his tongue—but eventually, through what must have been some titanic effort of will—he managed to swallow them.

"Let's head out, Moss," he grunted. "We may as well prep for the field. She's not going to budge on this one."

And he marched for the door—though not without turning to look Masumi in the eye. "I'll give you this—you're good at what you do," he said to her. "So if you have to Duel Seika again, we won't get in your way."

"But we're good at what we do, too," Moss said as he joined his companion. "So we'd advise _you_ … not to get in _our_ way."

"And what if we have to save your butts from Seika?" Masumi said daringly. "What then?"

"If anyone's that stupid," Moss replied, "we won't bother Dueling them." He patted the breast of his suit—and Masumi's breath caught in her throat when she saw the suspiciously L-shaped object underneath the lapel—

"We'll _deal_ with them—the old-fashioned way."

On that ominous note, Reed and Moss left Himika's office, leaving behind five suddenly _very_ uneasy children, three confused-looking technicians of LeoCorp—and a headmistress who looked dangerously close to making heads roll.

* * *

 **A/N: This …** ** _may_** **have gotten away from me. I had to pare the chapter down by a good few thousand words; I wasn't aware how much time it would take to explain everything about Seika that I wanted to at this point.**

 **I'm also unsure as to how that one passage of code I put in is going to look; this site's pretty weird about their formatting. Odds are it's not going to end up looking like any realistic code at all—but, eh, what can you do? Maybe it'll look more convincing on AO3.  
**

 ** **I'm off to sleep and wake up to turning 28.** Hope you enjoyed the double update. It's likely to be my last one for the year—though I'm always more than welcome to be proven wrong. To my American readers, I wish you safe travels, a happy Thanksgiving—and for the love of the gods stay home the day after because ****_augh_** **.**

 **To all my other readers, have a good rest of the year. Thanks for reading! – K**


	8. VIII

VIII

The moment Reed and Moss had disappeared, and her office door snapped shut, Himika was all business. She wasted no time in pulling out a desk drawer, fishing inside it for a few moments.

"Body armor and handgun in a corporate location," she was muttering to herself, shaking her head. "If that doesn't sum up American intelligence, I don't know what will … "

Masumi recalled seeing how stocky Moss had looked in his suit—how strangely tight it seemed to fit around him.

" … and if the Secretary of Defense thinks he can make me or Reiji budge on turning over _our_ intellectual property," Himika continued to hiss under her breath, "he's got another thing coming … "

At length, she produced a sheet of paper, and handed it to Masumi. "Crowley's job application listed this address as his current residence," she explained. "Nakajima already called ahead before you arrived. I want you over there five minutes ago."

Masumi glanced at the paper, an eyebrow raised. "What's the rush?"

The few remaining lines in Himika's face that weren't concealed by makeup were etched with dislike. "One day, you'll learn how to read people," she growled. "These Americans don't care that they're on Japanese soil. They want to be the ones to get to the bottom of this mystery, and damn anyone who gets in their way—friend or foe."

Yaiba seemed to get it first. "You're pitting five kids against the _U.S. government_?" he said incredulously. "And you're expecting us to come out on top?"

"I don't expect you to Duel them, Yaiba," Himika replied, "just to _outsmart_ them."

The Synchro user snorted. "Oh, is _that_ all?" Every word he spoke dripped with sarcasm.

Himika ignored him. "Whether they know it or not, those gentlemen overplayed their parts." Her voice was low. "There is something about this that I do not like— _not one bit_. Get over there and see what you can find—but do not let them know _you were ever there_."

Hotene and Fuyu made for the door. Yaiba and Shen followed close behind them until they noticed Masumi had yet to follow. The Fusion Duelist glanced at them, and briefly nodded; both Synchro users seemed to understand, closing the door behind them a few moments later.

The snap of the door seemed to alert Himika that there was still someone in her office. "Do not tarry too long, Masumi," she said calmly, tapping at her tablet. "We are all very busy people."

The invitation, and its implication, was clear—and Masumi did not intend to tarry at all. There was a lot on her mind she wanted to say, and she felt the words pour forth with an unusual amount of boldness in her voice.

"I want to know," she growled, "why you thought it was a good idea to inject that serum of yours into my body—without my or my parents' say-so."

Himika stopped fidgeting with her tablet, setting it aside to give Masumi her full attention.

"What if I decided to enter a tournament, and the organizers find that … _whatever_ it is … still swimming around inside me?" the Fusion user spluttered. "The nurse at the hospital gave me the bare bones of what this serum is supposed to do, but it was all I needed to know."

She leveled the most accusing stare she could muster at the woman in front of her. "Fields as automatic subroutines, I can live with. Memories being altered, or erased outright? Depends on what I would or wouldn't remember. But _doping_ us, Headmistress? That's a line I didn't think even _you_ were capable of crossing."

Her voice was cold. "You are playing games with our bodies, our minds, _and_ our futures—and it's long past time I learned _why_."

There was a silence. Slowly, Himika spun in her chair, eventually turning to overlook the skyline of Maiami City that her office overlooked.

"When you became a part of the LID," she explained, "you signed on for more than just tournaments. You're not doing this for the sake of our reputation, Masumi. You're doing this because deep down, you know that LDS is the only thing standing between this city and Academia. Just last night, you and your friends were the only thing standing between a monster and even more casualties than were suffered from these attacks. You were _witnesses_ ; I had to do whatever it took to make sure you survived so that we can prevent any more tragedy."

That answered one question—but raised several more for Masumi in its place. Himika, however, seemed to anticipate them, and continued in her discourse.

"Now, when you're devoted enough to a cause, eventually you're going to have to make some _sacrifices_. A good chess player doesn't need his best pieces to win. Nor does a good Duelist need his best cards to win. All they need are the _right_ ones." She rotated her chair again, coming to face Masumi once more. "How devoted to the safety and security of Maiami City are _you_ , Masumi? What would _you_ sacrifice to—?"

Masumi had stood up from her seat before she knew it. There was an odd sort of pounding in her ears.

"Don't you _dare_ flip this around on me," she hissed. "I've got a _lot_ less to sacrifice than you do, _Headmistress_. And if you're not careful, I'll have even less." She took a calming breath, to soothe her rising anger.

"Before I was attacked, I was talking with my parents over dinner. They'd heard about Crowley on the news. And they weren't happy with you—how you were treating this whole entire affair. They don't know why you've been so quiet about this so-called 'war' against Academia. They don't know why you sent a bunch of kids off to fight that war. Because you're not telling them _why_ , they're beginning to doubt you. And they were also beginning to doubt why I was still one of your students."

She leaned on the edge of Himika's desk, staring her headmistress in the eye. "They wanted to pull me out of LDS. And I'm not sure I convinced them to reconsider."

The silence that followed was deafening. Louder still was the rustle of Himika's dress against her chair as she slowly brought herself to her full height.

"You _told them_." She was composed enough to hide it, but very briefly, her face looked as if she'd licked a freshly cut lemon. "After I _specifically_ told you not to."

Masumi kept her voice even. "I had no choice," she retorted. "Now, I didn't tell them _everything_ ; I just told them what I thought they needed to know. I told them about last month, with the _Shaddoll_ incident and all that—and that you were keeping an eye on my future because of the role I played in it."

"Do you realize what you've done?!" Himika whispered. "Now that your parents know of this, you've dragged them into our business." She sucked air through her teeth. "That puts me in a _very_ difficult position."

The Fusion Duelist crossed her arms. "What's so difficult about it? Any parent should have a right to know what their child is doing—that what they're doing is _safe_. No parent should have to bury their child," she added, thinking of the talk she'd had with her own family earlier today.

"Now, I can give you a free pass for Reiji," she admitted. "He's old enough to know better. But what about Reira?"

"Masumi—" Something had shifted at that moment in the headmistress' stance—but Masumi, too absorbed in the words on her tongue, did not notice.

"Reira's not much older than Hotene," she went on, "and you're letting a kid that young run around in war zones without so much as a by-your-leave?"

"Masumi, that is enough—!"

 _THUD_.

" _Why don't you worry about Reira the same way my parents worry about ME?!_ "

The Fusion user had punctuated her question by pounding her fist on Himika's desk. It was this, perhaps, that made Masumi acutely aware of what she'd just said—and more importantly, at whom she'd just shouted it.

 _…_ _Um_.

Every impulse in her body was trying to tell her to head for the door as fast as she could—to flee and never look back. No one yelled at Himika and got away with it scot-free. Even the highest-ranking employees of LeoCorp could not be so lucky. But Masumi had gone one step further, and brought her two children into the argument as well—as far as she was concerned, a line had been crossed.

Bar a miracle, she'd just ended her Dueling career.

Yet even as a cold sweat trickled down Masumi's neck, a part of her knew that she couldn't turn back from this now—that she had to own up to her words, and not back down from them, no matter what happened to her from here on out.

Himika, meanwhile, was giving Masumi one of the iciest looks she'd ever seen a human being employ. She stalked out from behind her desk, never breaking gaze or stride, until the headmistress was practically right beside her.

" … Because I know Reira much better than you do, Masumi." Every syllable was laced with cold, resolute fury. "There is a difference between keeping your child safe, and keeping them _coddled_. I do not coddle Reira; I will freely admit that much. But it changes nothing, Masumi. My child means more to me than you will _ever_ know."

Masumi had been hoping for a more visceral reaction—some bold declaration of _precisely_ what Reira meant to Himika. What she'd heard just now would not suffice. She knew she was right about one thing—Reira wasn't much older than Hotene. And yet the two of them were polar opposites of each other; Hotene, whose first idea of fun was an Action Field that could bend the laws of physics and perception—and Reira, who seemed to have no concept of "fun" at all! Why would Himika deny this to her child at the age he needed it most?

She began to see the rough outline of a fresh stone appear in her mind—her thoughts began to cut away at the rock, exposing the gem within—

 _Grind out the preform._

Masumi already knew Hotene and Reira had Dueled once before, in the round-of-eight at last month's Maiami Championship, but aside from the ordeal she'd endured in the _Shaddoll_ incident—and more recently, her Duel with Seika—it was the one thing Hotene seemed ill at ease to talk about. Reira had beaten her quite soundly en route to winning the Junior division with equally little trouble—yet hadn't looked even the slightest bit elated at such an honor. Even when Reira had been selected as a Lancer, the news seemed to barely faze him.

 _Sand away the edges._

Of Reira's Dueling abilities, Masumi knew very little—only that the boy showed proficiency in all three methods of Extra Deck Summoning. He was, in fact, the only person Masumi knew besides his brother Reiji to have performed such a feat—although Sakaki Yūya's performance against Kachidoki Isao suggested that he wanted to try himself. Perhaps Reira looked up to Reiji such that he viewed his mastery of Extra Deck Summoning as worthy of emulation.

 _Lap at the surface._

Yet Himika seemed the kind of mother who would force their child to learn such things, as if she wanted to live vicariously through him—and yet she showed no pride in his success. Besides, she could have done so through Reiji just as easily—and Reira seemed to show no outward enthusiasm at emulating his brother, either—

 _Polish for good measure._

And suddenly, it crystallized in front of her—there it was—

 _Et voilà._

" … Reira's not your real son, is he?"

So absorbed had she been in her own thought process that Masumi had spoken her mind before the rest of it caught up to her. But this time, her words had gotten the visceral reaction she was looking for.

" _You go too far!_ "

Himika's whisper made her ears ring more loudly than any scream could. Her face had contorted into something ugly, obscene; something in Masumi's query had exposed a part of her that could not be covered up again.

And still Masumi remained where she stood. "I don't hear you denying it!" she hissed back.

"Then hear this, Masumi!" growled Himika through her teeth—before immediately reverting to her usual calm, controlled tone. "Stay out of it. _That is an order_."

No amount of calm or control could disguise the sheer fury that the headmistress had crammed into those last four words. Such was their intensity that Masumi, even long moments after the fact, was still swaying where she stood as if a sudden gale had blown her about. Yet it was nothing compared to the storm in her head that stemmed from the conclusion to which she'd just arrived.

Reira wasn't Himika's son—not by blood, anyway. No mother could surely be that aloof or uncaring about her own offspring duplicating a feat that few Duelists in the world ever could. Nor would any mother be so flippant about sending her youngest child into a potential battlefield with other children that weren't much older. Yet the more Masumi entertained the thought, the more it made sense—whether Himika refused to acknowledge it or not.

The headmistress, for her part, had evidently taken Masumi's expression as stunned surprise at her outburst—which wasn't so far from the truth.

"Are you starting to get it now, Masumi?" she demanded. "That you and your friends have not, in fact, joined just another after-school club?! You have entered a world of _pieces_ and _players_ ; you're either one or the other—and right now, none of you even know the shape or size of the _board on which you stand_. You may hate taking orders from me—but you'll still do it because you _know_ that you're _not ready to hold the lives of civilians in your hands_."

Her nostrils flared. "So you do not have the luxury of deciding whether my _personal_ matters are your concern as well. Nor," she added, "do you have any right to tell me what sort of parent I should be for my children."

It took a very long time for Masumi's heart rate to slow down sufficiently enough for her to reply to this.

"I'm young enough to _be_ your child," the Fusion user said shakily, still looking her principal in the eye despite every desire to look elsewhere. "And I'm old enough to know that right now … I'm not sure I'd ever _want to be_."

They stood there for a long time, staring each other down, neither wishing to back down from the other. Then—without breaking eye contact—Himika slowly returned to her desk, steepling her fingers upon the glass surface.

"That is your prerogative," she conceded. "But the fact is, you are _not_ my child. Do not talk to me as if you are."

There was a soft chiming noise. "Himika- _san_?" It was the receptionist that Masumi had briefly spoken to on the way up. "I have system security holding on line one—they'd like you to stop by their office as soon as possible."

Himika spoke only one word. "Understood." Then, she blinked—and as swiftly as it had come, whatever anger had been made manifest in this conversation had been buried beneath the chairwoman's usual impassive stare.

"Well, then." Her voice was halting. "Given that we are both pressed for time, I am willing to pardon your outburst _this once_ , Masumi." She leaned forward in her chair. "I will not do so again."

Masumi met the gaze without even flinching. "I understand. It won't happen again."

"I'll be holding you to that." And with that, the headmistress pulled back; instinctively, the Fusion Duelist knew this confrontation had drawn to a close. She turned away, and made her way to the door—feeling suddenly anxious to put as much distance between her and the Leo Duel School as humanly possible.

* * *

As she'd expected, Yaiba's face was the first thing Masumi saw on her way out, with the rest of the LID behind him. One glance at them told her everything.

"Masumi?" Yaiba looked as though he was seeing her for the first time. "Are you all right?"

 _No I'm not okay how can you expect me to be okay after hearing that our principal wants to treat her own students like pawns in a game how the hell is that okay how can she do that to us and still expect us to keep it all in the dark_

" … I wish I knew," Masumi could only tell him back, as they made for the elevator. "This is not what I signed up for, Yaiba … not at all."

"Do you want to talk about it?" Fuyu's usual rasp had become whisper-quiet. The eye not covered by his bangs was darting left and right, almost as if expecting Himika to step out from every corner they passed.

" … I don't know what more I can say that you haven't already heard," muttered Masumi. "I thought this whole thing was about protecting our city—our _home_. We're LDS _Investigation_ and _Defense_ , after all—shouldn't that mean we do the investigating _and_ the defending?"

"Is that not what our Headmistress asked us to do a few minutes ago?" Shen asked, frowning.

"That's not the point, Shen!" Masumi groaned. "If we're supposed to do those things, then why are those two Americans in our city at all? What business do they have trying to do _our_ job for us?"

"J.D. Crowley was American," shrugged Shen. "Perhaps Captain Reed and Agent Moss believe they have an obligation to investigate the disappearance of one of their own countrymen."

"But Crowley disappeared _here_ , though," Hotene muttered. "He didn't disappear in _America_ —he disappeared in _Japan_. So shouldn't they let the police in Japan do things first?"

No one answered her. Perhaps no one could; Masumi certainly could not—nor was it the first time she needed a friendly reminder that Hotene was only nine years old. Kids that age, and even younger, did not share the same worldview as smarter, more aware adults—but that did not mean they lacked insight as to how that world worked, either. There were times when looking at things in a different light meant asking different questions, or giving different answers—which led many teens and adults, so rooted in their own beliefs, to get blindsided when confronted with the often-fortuitous wisdom of the next generation.

This was exactly what Hotene's question had done to Masumi—and it had sparked an ugly train of thought in her head. Because the tiny Duelist had a point—the Japanese police had every right to conduct an investigation as to why thirty-two innocent people had been murdered without warning. That Masumi had heard nothing of that on the news had was now leading her to two conclusions, neither of which was particularly welcome:

Either LDS was keeping the authorities at bay … or the _Americans_ were.

Both sides had their reasons—Seika had been created with the use of technology so cutting-edge that the Leo Corporation was doing its utmost to suppress all knowledge of it outside the company. J.D. Crowley, meanwhile, had been a DARPA asset of the U.S. government before his employment with LeoCorp. It came down to each side simply wanting to protect their secrets; however, with Himika forming the LID, she had entrusted five children with not only the secrets of both a powerful corporation and an even more powerful government, but also the secret of _their very existence_ , even from the people each of them held most dear in their hearts.

Masumi, for the life of her, could not figure out how to do that—and so she had disobeyed Himika, clued in her parents on what she'd become a part of in the hope of them being as understanding as they'd been in the past. Yet it had done nothing to allay their suspicions of her—and worse still, had now saddled her with knowledge that felt less a matter of corporate intrigue as it did of national security.

 _Mother is right_ , she thought hopelessly, remembering their talk at the hospital. _What_ have _I gotten myself into?_

The lift doors opened, dispelling Masumi's train of thought at last. "Do you think we bit off more than we can chew here?" Masumi muttered to nobody in particular as they filed inside. "About Q, the LID, Seika—all of this?"

Shen stared down at her. "You mean to ask if there are other people out there who are more capable of fighting Seika than we are?"

" … Sort of," Masumi sighed, pushing the button for the ground floor. "I just thought we'd be fighting enemies by Dueling them—not by watching them blow up innocent bystanders!"

"Himika did say that Seika was unlike any Duelist we'd ever faced before," murmured Fuyu, his quiet voice melding with the hum of the descending elevator. "It's a virus, not a human being—so it doesn't think like we do. So it probably doesn't think much about the people it killed, either—or about killing more. If it even does at all," he added sadly, with a look at Shen.

Masumi found her gaze traveling up to meet the unflappable Synchro user's eyes as well. The knowledge of Shen losing the closest thing he had to a father in this country—along with the only life and everyone he'd even known away from LDS—had roused a great deal of pity for him. Yet Shen himself did not seem overly troubled. Deep inside, she was certain he was— _surely no one could be that stonehearted!_ Masumi thought—yet to see the stoic look on the Chinese Duelist's face prompted her to ask,

"Are _you_ all right?"

Shen exhaled, closing his dark eyes. When next he opened them, Masumi noticed how hard they looked beneath his brow. She recalled her thoughts on the way to LDS, of how Shen—perhaps too noble to seek vengeance for the massacre he'd been forced to witness—wished for justice instead, to personally hold Seika responsible for the lives it had taken. But that had been before they knew Seika was not a living being, and she did not feel nearly qualified enough to ask if an artificial entity be held to the same standard as a man, if they were to commit a crime.

" _Bù jiàn guāncái bù luò lèi_ ," he murmured, almost to himself. "An old saying in China," he added, upon seeing Masumi's puzzled look. "The best I could translate it would be 'not shedding tears until seeing the coffin'—to not give up hope in a losing battle, until the last possible minute."

He breathed in, then out again. "No … I am not 'all right'," he said under his breath. "I have lost many people who were very dear to me. Their loss shall not be easily replaced; I do not know if it even can. However," he added, "there are still others in my life, who have shared the same fortune as I have … who walk the same path as I do, and who breathe the same air as I do, even now."

The Synchro user glanced around at them all; there was a steely tone to his words now. "It is for their sake—for _yours_ —that I do _not_ shed my tears and give up hope, because I have not yet seen that coffin—the same coffin Seika means for us all. I do not intend to give up this fight yet—not while we are all still here, and _still breathing_." He punctuated the last two words by clenching his fist so tightly Masumi thought she heard the knuckles pop.

Deep inside, she felt a swell of admiration for Shen's words. The Fusion Duelist remembered all too well how the _Shaddoll_ incident might have turned out, were it not for her actions—and perhaps some divine intervention as well. She remembered the insurmountable odds they had all faced in those darkest moments; she remembered how hopeless she had felt, when every hand had turned against her.

But most of all, Masumi remembered _his_ hand reaching out to her, _his_ voice to bring her out of the despair into which she'd sunk. It was mostly for this reason, therefore, that she voiced her next question.

"Will there be a memorial?"

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Yaiba turn towards her, surprised, while Hotene and Fuyu were looking towards Shen expectantly as well. Though Masumi had only met Shen's _sifu_ once, and then only for a brief moment, she knew how highly Shen valued any relationship where elders or teachers were concerned. In her mind, asking to come with him, to help pay respects to his teacher, felt like the most polite thing she could say to him.

Shen, however, shook his head—though he raised a hand before Masumi could say anything more. "Thank you for your offer," he said evenly. "But I am not ready to talk of such things right now. _Jié-āi-shùn-biàn_ ; there is a time and a place for grief. We must first, however, make sure we live long enough to see it."

"Okay." Masumi smiled; she hadn't been expecting Shen to accept her request—it had been a personal one, after all—but she took comfort in knowing that he would at least entertain it for a time. He was right, after all—they had other things to worry about first.

For Masumi, Himika was only the least of them—and the Fusion user doubted that her principal knew enough of Shen's ancient Chinese wisdom to admit that she was in the wrong any time soon.

* * *

 _3:00 P.M._

And, indeed, ancient Chinese wisdom was the very last thing on Akaba Himika's mind at this moment as she stalked the halls of the Leo Corporation, seeking out her next target.

That target had just presented itself in a small door off to her left, unmarked and unassuming but for the simple placard it bore: SYSTEM SECURITY. It clicked open only a few moments after her single, imperious knock—revealing a portly, hunched man of about fifty, wearing a sweat-soaked shirt and glasses thick enough to burn ants. The hum of massive computers could be heard from the other side—and the heat they were presumably generating was already negating the air-conditioning of the hallway outside.

Himika, knowing full well that her makeup would not last long in this office, did not waste time with pleasantries. "Let's make this quick, Sagisaka," she said brusquely, stepping past the director of system security and into the office beyond. "Tell me what I'm doing here," she said, speaking above the noise of Sagisaka's computers for the first time, "so that I can get back to more important work."

Sagisaka blinked. "As you wish." He hopped into his chair with a quickness that belied his poor posture; within seconds his fingers were a blur over two different keyboards as multiple monitors, bare inches from his face, came to life with endless lines of code that scrolled past so quickly that Himika had no time to read them.

"As you are aware," Sagisaka explained, "much of the instrumentation within testing bay three, where the incident that caused J.D. Crowley to vanish took place, was destroyed in the course of events. However, I have been able to reconstruct the keystroke records of the terminal inside the bay."

"Keystroke records." Himika digested the term, thinking. "You mean to tell me you can do a terminal echo on the workstation inside the testing bay? The same one that Seika was seen to use on the security footage that was just brought to my attention?"

"Precisely." Sagisaka grinned. "I'm displaying everything from one minute prior to yesterday's incident, starting at four-twenty-one P.M., local time."

He played a brief ditty on one of his keyboards, then tapped a single button on another, before pointing to the screen in the middle of his setup. The display, cluttered with multiple lines of code, now slowed and flared white before displaying a handful of lines:

* * *

 _qsystem_

 _shiratoshi_

 _goto command_

 _shiratoshi_

 _1nk/p{uy/qxtz_

 _myjobytes_

 _keycheck –0_

 _\u00e6_lohim•exe_

* * *

Himika leaned in for a closer look. "That's it?"

"That's it—and there's a reason for it." As Sagisaka explained, Seika had first used the terminal in testing bay three to access the code within Q itself— _qsystem_. From there, it had needed confirmation that the access was being performed by a known employee; in this case, a username— _shiratoshi_. Somehow, that had granted Seika access to the command level, which required even more security precautions given the level of technology Q contained, both in its hardware and its software. This security, Sagisaka said, required the aforementioned username, an access number, and finally a personal password—the last of which made Himika want to strangle whoever had thought of that horrible pun.

But Seika had given the computer everything it needed to know, and it was here that Sagisaka stabbed his finger at the screen— _keycheck –0_. "There's your answer, Himika- _san_ ," he said. "Seika turned off the keychecks. Whatever it did to Q, it wanted to keep us from seeing how it did what it did."

"And this … _lohim•exe_?" Himika recognized the last line from before, recalling how it had been added by _seika•exe_ —the same command used by that damned virus to cause all that death and destruction.

"It has to be assumed that's _what_ Seika did," shrugged Sagisaka. "Of course, without the keychecks, we don't yet know _how_." He indicated his other two monitors, still inundated with lines beyond lines of code. "I've been checking Q's code listings for anything that matches those last two lines, but I've not seen anything yet."

"How long will it take?" Himika inquired.

Sagisaka looked at her as if she'd just asked him to compete in Olympic gymnastics. "I'm not sure you understand just how much code is inside Q's software, Himika- _san_ ," he said incredulously. "There are millions— _hundreds_ of _millions_ of lines to examine here—I've barely even cracked a hundred _thousand_!"

"Pull as many men as you can spare," Himika told him. "I'm making this your top priority, Sagisaka."

Sagisaka swallowed at the notion of the Herculean task, but he knew better than to say no to his superior at this point. "Very well," he said thickly. "Though there is one part of this that's bothering me."

"What's that?"

"A virus as powerful and intelligent as Seika has shown itself to be could—in theory—simply brute-force its way into Q's command-line interface," Sagisaka replied. "So why, then, would it go to the trouble of creating a username to do that instead?"

"Maybe Seika didn't want to risk destroying Q—we've seen how deadly a weapon it can be in the wrong hands." But even as she spoke the words, another option had occurred to Himika—one that she did not like at all.

"Actually, Sagisaka—tell me about _this_." She pointed to the second line on his middle screen: _shiratoshi_ , Seika's so-called "username".

"Well, usernames are often created from combinations of the names to which they're assigned," Sagisaka told her. "If memory serves, it's made from no more than four Japanese syllables, or _kana_ —two for the family name, another two for the given name. In this case, _Shira_ \- would be part of the family name, while - _toshi_ … you get the idea."

Himika did indeed get the idea. Sagisaka's explanation had inadvertently helped her solve a major part of this mystery—perhaps even helped her find out who had committed these crimes.

Because she knew Seika hadn't created that username—it hadn't even _stolen_ it. The access number and password that she was looking at were proof of this. They were under such security that they could not be easily stolen as well; for anyone else to possess it, it had to be given out _willingly_.

 _Unless—_ She whirled on Sagisaka. "Where are the Americans?!"

"You're asking the wrong person." The plump man had turned around in his seat at the exclamation. "I can get them for you, if you like."

Himika shook her head. "Put the word out. If either of them so much as takes _one step_ out of this building," she hissed, "I want to be the first to know."

Sagisaka didn't even have time for a "Yes, Himika- _san_ "—the LDS Chairwoman had already departed his office by that time, speeding as fast as her heels could carry her for Research and Development.

And, she hoped, the man behind Seika …

* * *

At that moment, Captain Timothy Reed was elsewhere in the building, having changed out of his dress uniform and into a navy suit not unlike his partner's. Agent Moss was beside him, finishing up a call on his phone; the hushed mutter in which he spoke left little doubt as to whom he might be speaking.

"Yes … yes, of course they're in place," he said. " … They kept Crowley from blowing his cover, didn't they? … I agree, sir." And he hung up.

Reed, still concentrating on loading the Sig Sauer P228 in his hand, barely eyed him as he walked over. "The connection's in place?"

The CIA agent nodded, glancing at his phone as if to check something. "Two MCPD units on standby if anything goes wrong; six more for backup."

"Eight units for six targets?" Reed raised his pointed eyebrows. "These are _kids_."

" _Five_ kids—that took out one of Academia's _top brass_ ," Moss reminded him. "They make or break us, Tim—if they catch on, they _will_ interfere."

"And target six?" The DCIS officer looked skeptical as he finished with his gun. "Units won't do much good against _that_."

"Leave Seika to me," said Moss. "We just need those kids out of the way."

"And if Seika beats us to them?"

Moss paused—but only for a moment. "Then hopefully Himika _learns something_ today."

They spoke no more after that; the pair made for the front door of LDS in silence. Neither of them noticed the eyes of the woman at the front desk linger on them for a long moment, before picking up her phone and placing a call …

* * *

 _3:05 P.M._

J.D. Crowley lived in a block of apartments that Masumi was certain hadn't existed five years ago, when she'd first been accepted to LDS. It bore the bland tan-and-orange color scheme that was characteristic of much of Japan's public housing, and its cube-shaped design looked about as inspired.

"What a dump," Hotene thought out loud from beside her. Masumi had to agree—even with the shelf life expected from most government-provided apartments, this didn't strike her as choice number one for her first place to live. No doubt Crowley, being a low-level programmer and a foreigner to boot, hadn't had a choice in the matter.

At least the inside of it looked well kept, -lit and in order—though Masumi still found the inside a bit sterile for her tastes. The chairs and tables were mostly shades of brown, with the odd splash of silver or black here and there. The Fusion Duelist doubted this place had been decorated by anyone who called themselves an interior designer.

She went up to the front desk, with the rest of the LID behind her. The man behind it stared at them quizzically for a moment, before his eyes moved to the pins they wore on their shirt collars. At once, his face softened.

"Our mutual friend called ahead," he said, rising up from his seat and taking out a ring of keys from a nearby drawer. "They said to expect you."

"Thanks for letting us in," Masumi told him. "I … hope this isn't too unexpected."

"I've heard stranger requests in my day," the doorman answered her. "Not all of them have come from your headmistress, either. If you'll follow me?"

They did so. "By the way," said the doorman, as if just now remembering it, "I've also been asked by management to tell you that we're conducting some maintenance in the residence areas today."

Masumi couldn't think of why he'd tell them something like that—it wasn't as if they deserved to know it, after all.

"When will they be done?" Fuyu piped up.

The doorman smiled. "Our crews should be finished within the hour."

This time, Masumi got the underlying message—the LID had one hour to poke around in Crowley's apartment. Maybe even less than that: it all depended on if—or _when_ —the Americans, Reed and Moss, would cross paths with them.

It was a chance they could not take, Masumi decided. "Thanks for letting us know," said the Fusion user. "We'll do our best to stay out of their way."

* * *

By the time they'd emerged from the elevator, Masumi had figured out a rough schedule to which the LID could adhere while they were here. She double-checked her math to make sure it was sound: of the sixty minutes they'd been allotted, two had been used already.

That was all well and good, but in order for Reed and Moss to have no idea they were here, the LID would not only have to be out of Crowley's apartment by the time that hour was up—but out of the building, _period_ , and a safe enough distance away that they wouldn't arouse their suspicion. That shaved off a considerable portion of that hour, leaving them with something closer to forty-five minutes.

Then, as the doorman took them down a hallway, Masumi's Duel Disk chimed. A message from an unknown number was splashed on the screen:

* * *

 _Moss outside LeoCorp; Reed likely with him._

 _Do not reply; you are being tracked._

* * *

 _Damn_. Those fourteen words had wiped out most of their time limit, Masumi thought. They'd be lucky to have ten minutes now; she could only imagine how angry Himika was at this setback.

Meanwhile: "Third floor … end of the hall … on the left … Here we are," the doorman finally said, stopping at an off-white door that looked freshly painted—though, thankfully, did not smell it.

He unlocked the door, and stepped aside. "I'll wait out here for you."

Masumi thanked him, before motioning to her friends to follow. "Let's not linger," she told them in an undertone, before showing them Himika's message to her. "We'd better get this over with. We're not too far from LDS, and that maintenance excuse he used on us won't stall the Americans forever."

Yaiba and the others were only too happy to agree. They stepped through the door, and into Crowley's apartment.

* * *

The first thing Masumi noticed about the place was how _spotless_ it looked. Her mother was the neat freak in the family, a fact which she had never let her husband—or Masumi—forget, even as she constantly traveled out of town for her job. As precisely planned as she liked her days and schedules to be, even the Fusion Duelist saw the necessity for a little chaos in her life—even if that chaos was better preferred as clothes on the floor instead of a freak hospital visit for a coma that medical science couldn't readily explain.

Yet the space before her—a two-bedroom space with both doors off to their left, with a balcony directly opposite them some fifteen feet away—gleamed so brightly from every surface that it might have been cleaned mere seconds before they'd opened the door. If Masumi was messy compared to her mother, then her mother was even more messy compared to Crowley—as she now said to Yaiba, her mother would find this place _too_ clean.

"Yours too, huh?" the Synchro user said dryly.

"So much the better," remarked Masumi. "Makes it easier for us to find what we're looking for."

"An' what _are_ we looking for, Masu- _chan_?" Hotene asked from beside her, taking in the pristine—if pint-sized—kitchen with wide eyes.

It was another question that Masumi had no real response to, only a half-hearted shrug that plainly said _I wish I knew_. "You and Yaiba search the kitchen, Hotene," she eventually said.

"Got it!"

"Fuyu, you and I can take one bedroom apiece. Shen"—she pointed at the heretofore silent Synchro user—"you've got the living room. Keep an eye on the front door at all times."

Shen nodded once, as did Fuyu. "Understood."

"Okay."

Masumi looked round at them all, her voice as serious as it could be. "No one touch _anything_ ," she ordered. "If something catches your eye, you send a picture to either one of us, or to Himika. Remember: we can't leave _any_ sign we were here, or Reed and Moss will have our necks. Like they said earlier—these are the kinds of people who don't Duel with you—they _deal_ with you." She thought of the handgun she was one hundred percent positive had been under the CIA agent's suit.

No one spoke. Masumi knew they'd been thinking the same thing. "Let's go," she said quietly, and as if by a spell, everyone spread out to search their chosen rooms.

She took the bedroom further from the front door; Fuyu had already elected to examine the nearer one to him. It was much the same story in here as it was in the living room: completely spotless, with a full-sized mattress taking up much of the floor space. The leaf-green quilt had nary a wrinkle to its name; Masumi could not have made her own bed so meticulously if she'd had the whole morning to do it.

Next to the bed was a small desk, large enough for the small desktop perched on it. The computer was switched off; Masumi decided it wasn't worth it to turn it back on—though the temptation had crossed her mind. But what puzzled her was the strange humming noise from somewhere close by—inside the room itself, even?—that still persisted even though the one thing inside that could have caused it was currently powered down.

Frowning, Masumi chanced a peek inside the closet—and felt her confusion redouble upon seeing the narrow space behind the door, and _nothing else_ : there weren't even hangars, let alone shirts.

" … What the hell?" Masumi's voice, as quiet as it was, felt explosive in the silence.

She moved on to the adjoining bathroom, but her luck was little better; the shower had only a bottle of shampoo and body wash apiece; the roll of toilet paper wasn't missing more than a few sheets, and the only towel in the room was neatly folded on a nearby rack.

By now, Masumi was starting to feel mystified. She could not understand why someone like Crowley would bring so little to his own apartment, even with the job he held. The thought occurred to her that perhaps only a small part of his personal effects were in his apartment proper; it was possible that LDS had some personal spaces where Crowley could store his other effects, perhaps even—

"Masumi?"

Fuyu's voice was coming from the other side of the wall—presumably the other bathroom.

She was there bare moments later, long enough to take in the dark red bedspread in one corner of the bedroom, before crossing into the adjacent bath.

The Xyz Duelist was already there, and it was immediately apparent to Masumi why he'd called him here.

She stared, more confused than surprised. "Makeup?"

There was a _lot_ of it, she had to admit—more than Masumi thought any one woman needed to put on her face every day. Blush, concealer, foundation—bottle after bottle and tube after tube was laid around the sink so densely that the lacquer surface beneath was invisible in places. Some bottles were open; some looked as though they'd yet to be used—but all of it could prove to be a valuable clue.

"You didn't touch of it, did you?" she asked.

Fuyu shook his head.

"Good." Masumi took in the scene. "I guess Crowley must've been assigned a roommate. Maybe he even had a mistress." Hardly something to write home about, she thought—certainly salacious, she added to herself, feeling her cheeks color faintly—but certainly not illegal, either.

"Whoever it was," Fuyu said quietly, looking around the bedroom, " it doesn't look like either of them spent a lot of time here." He thumbed towards the bed. "This doesn't even look like it's been _slept in_."

"Nor does the other bed." Masumi traced a finger over the covers. Her fingers glided over the fabric, meeting no resistance as they—

"Fuyu." Her voice was soft. "Something is _wrong_ here."

"What's that?"

The Fusion user put her hand on the bed again, running her fingers over the dark red quilt once more, just to be sure—but there was nothing, just like before … and a suspicious lack of it, too.

 _Just like before_.

"There has to have been at least _some_ sign of habitation in this place," she was thinking out loud. "Even _recently_. Crowley, I can understand; remember that hidey-hole inside testing bay three—all that food in the little fridge that got spilled? Himika mentioned a lot of people work late hours in LeoCorp R &D to get their work done—maybe Crowley was living in there for a time. But what about his roommate—whoever lived in here?" She threw out her arms. "Look around this room. Doesn't anything seem _off_ to you?"

Fuyu's visible eye peered this way and that. "Nothing. It looks clean."

"That's just it—it's _too_ clean," Masumi told him. "If I was the residence manager of this place, and every room looked like this, I'd pin an extra zero on every paycheck the maintenance staff could get. _No one_ is this meticulous. No scuffs on the door marks. No crumbs of food on the carpet. Not even a speck of dust on the bed. _Nothing_."

The Xyz Duelist frowned. " … Maybe they cleaned up in here before we came?" he shrugged. "The man downstairs did say they were doing maintenance today."

Masumi didn't buy it. "Fuyu, can you imagine how much disinfectant it would take to clean a room this size, this thoroughly? Enough that we'd be able to _smell it_ the moment we walked in. I didn't see cleaning supplies in Crowley's bathroom, either."

She put a hand on the wall, leaning on it for support as she cast one more look around the room. There was only one explanation for the puzzle it contained, and as strange as it sounded …

"I'm beginning to think Crowley only lived in this place for the _one day_. The first day he rented the place. And his roommate—OUCH!"

It came without warning: it felt as though a zap of static electricity had decided it wasn't satisfied with one finger, and had shocked Masumi's entire hand instead—fingers, palm, and all—making her yank it away from the wall with a yelp. Even a few seconds after the fact, the bones still tingled with the surprise shock.

Fuyu had tensed at the sudden outburst. "What is it?!"

"Shh!"

For Masumi's eyes had spotted something near the bedspread—a small black cube about the size of her fist, so innocent-looking it might have been part of the room. But a sudden thought between this, the humming noise she had heard in Crowley's bedroom, and the stinging sensation that was beginning to make her hand numb, had suddenly sprung into Masumi's mind.

Slowly, experimentally, she lowered a finger onto the wall again, and touched the surface as gently as possible, just _brushing_ a finger along the dried paint, then the whole hand, keeping herself from applying too much pressure on the wall—and again, she felt the same sensation as she had a few seconds ago, pulsing under her hand, but this time it was not nearly as severe; this time, it felt like a warm summer's day—

Masumi froze as it hit her—she knew what this was. What it was doing _here_ , however, was a whole other question.

"I don't know, Fuyu." She used her non-numbed hand to snap a picture with the camera app in her Duel Disk. "But I _think_ I know someone who might."

 _Emphasis on 'think'_ , she thought, _because I'm not sure I even know her anymore_.

* * *

 _3:15 P.M._

 _LeoCorp Sublevel Three_

 _Research & Development_

Himika almost felt let down—almost. She'd thought cutting to the quick would have produced the response of fear—or, barring that, misplaced aggression—that she'd been hoping for.

Of course, she was well aware that corporate cultures of fear were doomed to fail, and any aggression taken against her was a fool's errand; her employees were well aware of _that_. Nevertheless, reminding her employees of who was in charge was necessary, if regrettable—and the kind of catharsis she liked to feel in times of stress such as this.

But Shirai Toshio, the lead programmer of the Leo Corporation, had dashed that hope of catharsis by greeting her accusation with a tilt of his head, and two words that reflected the complete puzzlement on his face.

" … Excuse me?"

The chairwoman furrowed her brow. "You're in no position to make me repeat myself, _'shiratoshi'_ ," she muttered, just out of earshot of the small crowd of researchers about twenty feet away. They were all pretending to work while attempting to eavesdrop on the conversation at hand—but Himika knew better, and if circumstances were different, she'd line them up with Shirai. However, his situation took precedence, and so she continued on.

"The virus, Seika, hijacked one of the terminals inside testing bay three that was still functional after the incident that compromised J.D. Crowley," she told him. "That much you already know. However, system security was able to access the keycheck function of the terminal in question, and they discovered that _your_ account information had been used by Seika to log onto that terminal and execute the commands we believe to have compromised Project #1610217—thereby resulting in last night's attacks.

"If you're still having trouble processing this," she continued in a low hiss, nearly breathing down Shirai's neck at this point, "let me boil it down for you. You have five seconds to tell me that I am, in fact, _mistaken_ —and that you did not, in fact, use company resources to _murder more than thirty men, women, and children in cold blood_."

Shirai's mustache seemed to droop lower and lower with each passing word. Sweat was beginning to stain his shirt collar. _That's more like it_.

"I … I do not understand how this could be possible," he managed to say, though even now his voice was beginning to grow more confident. "Himika- _san_ … setting aside the notion of these _ludicrous_ allegations, I am well aware of the stance our— _your_ company takes regarding the protection of confidential material. I am, further, aware that that _confidential material_ includes the personal information of you, of me, and of every person who holds a position within your company—present, past, or future. And per employee rules, I have never once given it out to anyone in all the time I have worked here!"

"Then explain to me," Himika said, as levelly as she could, "how Seika managed to get a hold of your account information."

"Well, that should be obvious," blustered Shirai. "Seika's a _virus_. Most of them are designed to compromise personal assets."

"Let me rephrase." Himika dialed the icy chill in her eyes to its maximum. "Explain to me how Seika managed to get a hold of _your_ account information—and _no one else's_."

Shirai frowned. "I don't follow."

"Seika could have compromised the accounts of any and all employees of the Leo Corporation. Many of them would have been more qualified than you are to access this location, and left system security none the wiser." Himika stabbed a finger outward at the door of testing bay three, which people were giving a wide berth more than ever now. "So why did Seika use yours—and _only_ yours?"

The lead programmer could only shrug. "If I could answer that question, Himika- _san_ , I would. Unfortunately, even those two Americans don't know who programmed Seika—and even if they do, I doubt they're likely to tell us, given who they work for."

"The Americans aren't your problem," Himika said shortly. "Right now, I'm your problem. And to solve that _very angry_ problem, you're going to open up that door." She pointed again at testing bay three.

Shirai frowned. "Am I to presume you do not suspect me of any crime, Himika- _san_? You'll forgive me," he added, smiling bleakly, "if I think it's farfetched to allow a purported criminal near his own crime scene."

Himika ignored him. "Where do you keep your personal information, Shirai?"

"The same as every employee, I presume," he answered quickly, patting his pants pocket. "Key card in my wallet."

"Then you see no issue with using it to open the door?" Himika inquired, not a little impatiently. She was beginning to regret not bringing Nakajima with her; the burly aide would have had a straight answer out of Shirai before he could say "Lancer."

"None whatsoever," the lead programmer replied back. "In fact, I'd be more than happy to do that right now." Then, as quickly as he'd given his answer: "I … assume everything's been fixed over there?"

"The doors are fixed." Himika did not deign to confirm or deny Shirai's implication as to whether everything _inside_ had been fixed as well, but merely told him all that was necessary for him to know.

The disappearance of Crowley, and the power outage that had followed, had required manual resets on the electronic keyholes that kept most doors within LeoCorp R&D locked down tight. Building security had told her earlier that this had been taking place while Masumi had had her Duel with Q, and had further been completed not long before Seika had struck. Which meant the door was sealed now, to all but the people who had the proper key to get inside.

So when Shirai nodded his assent, Himika stepped aside, allowing the lead programmer a clear path to the doorway of testing bay three. From his pocket, he produced a white chip of plastic, slightly smaller than a _Duel Monsters_ card, and inlaid with circuitry. This Shirai raised up to the black box of the keyhole, where a sensor would spend the next fraction of a second analyzing the information encoded on that chip, and determine whether it was safe to open.

One fraction of a second later, then, the sensor beeped—and Himika heard Shirai splutter where he stood. Instantly, she'd appeared by his side faster than she'd thought the hem of her dress would have allowed.

The source of the consternation wasn't hard to find. Above the sensor, a small screen had blipped on, with a message large enough for Himika to read over Shirai's shoulder:

* * *

 **CROWLEY, JONATHAN DAMON**

 **EMPLOYEE ID #: 001215-15-419-420**

 **NOTICE: EMPLOYEE STATUS TBD**

 **ACCESS DENIED PENDING INQUIRY**

* * *

Slowly, Himika felt her head swivel until a sweating Shirai had her full attention. The lead programmer seemed unable to process what the screen was telling him.

" … I say again, Himika- _san_ ," he stammered. "If I could explain this, I would do so without hesitation."

The chairwoman, however, was not in the mood for explanations. The gears inside her head had begun to turn at breakneck speed—searching for a way, any way, to figure out what was going on here.

Meanwhile: "Are you certain," she said dangerously, "that you want to explain to me just what you're doing with _someone else's personal information_ , Shirai? After you just finished telling me that you'd never given yours out to _anyone_ , in all your time with the Leo Corporation?"

Her lead programmer made as if to respond, but Himika cut him off. "I don't want to hear excuses. You've already told me that you're fully aware of the position my company takes on disseminating things like this—accidental or otherwise. And believe me, Shirai … this is beginning to look less and less like any kind of _accident_."

She drew herself to her full height. "You're suspended pending investigation, effective immediately."

Shirai's jaw fell open. "Y-you can't be serious!"

"I am _deadly_ serious," Himika hissed, ignoring the inquisitive stares Shirai's outburst was causing from passersby. "The only reason I'm not having you fired—or even _arrested_ —is because I don't believe you're the person I'm seeking. Nor," she added, "do I believe you have the stones in you to commit mass murder. However, you are still guilty of compromising not only your personal information, but of another person's as well. There are laws in our company against that, Shirai—and with or without your knowledge, you've still broken them."

"But—but," stammered Shirai, "t-this is _my card_! I've had this on my person since last week—the very day it was given to me! This should not be _possible_! I-I would know if it had been stolen or altered in any way!"

Himika pounced. "Who gave it to you, then?" she growled. "The sooner you tell me, Shirai, the more likely you get to keep your job! Tell me who gave you your card!"

A long moment passed before the programmer could answer her question; Himika had the impression Shirai was doing some very quick thinking.

" … It wasn't given to me directly," he eventually replied. "I was busy enough at the time that I had to delegate it to someone else. She was the one who went to them for my card; she was the one who gave it to me."

Himika narrowed her gaze. " _Give me a name_ ," she snarled through clenched teeth.

Shirai shook his head helplessly. "I don't know—it never occurred to me to find out! She told me in passing that she was only a temp—that's probably why I didn't ask—so she might not even be with the company anymore!"

 _Which would mean questioning her is … well, out of the question_ , Himika thought sourly. But even temp workers, however transient they were—here one moment, elsewhere the next—left traces of themselves behind, trails that could be tracked to piece together where they'd been and gone, and everything they'd done in between.

It was for that reason she pulled out her phone to contact Nakajima. "Go to human resources," she ordered, "and tell them that I need every last _shred_ of information on every temporary assignment that we took on for the past three months. I want this _yesterday_ , Nakajima. The sooner it's on my desk, the sooner I can make heads from tails of this damned mess."

"Understood, Himika- _san_."

"I'm having Shirai meet you as well." Himika fixed the man in question with a glare that petrified him. "You're to take him straight home after you're finished in HR—and you're not to let him out of your sight until then."

"Ma'am?"

"I'll explain later. Suffice it to say I'm seriously considering turning him over to our American _friends_ for a time."

She did not notice—or perhaps did not even care to notice—that Shirai had gone white as a sheet behind her. The lead programmer was swaying where he stood.

"I look forward to hearing more, Himika- _san_ ," Nakajima said. "By the way, the LID was trying to call you. They say they've found something you may want to see."

Himika frowned. "Can they be more specific?"

"They've taken at least one picture. Apparently they believe you can tell them about whatever it is they found."

"Send it through. I'm heading back upstairs." Himika terminated the call without further ado, and stormed out with renewed purpose in every step—a purpose hardly dulled by the soft _flump_ of Shirai Toshio's body as he finally slid to the surgically-clean floor of LeoCorp R &D in a dead faint.

* * *

 _3:18 P.M._

"Anti-contamination cubes."

"Sorry?" Yaiba merely looked his confusion.

"Solid Vision emitters—modified to project a micro-thin layer of hard-light across a flat plane." The speaker of Masumi's Duel Disk, from which the voice of her headmistress issued so crystal-clear she might have been in the room with them, made her sound like some omnipresent goddess.

It was a notion that made the Fusion user visibly uncomfortable, and was, perhaps, the reason why she was currently looking out of the window that overlooked the street below, instead of her Duel Disk, placed around the LID on the dustless coffee table like the speaker in a conference call. One of the cubes Masumi had found in the bedroom sat next to the device, and demanded almost as much attention given the circumstances.

"Strategically placed, enough of these devices can encompass an entire room," Himika continued. "No doubt why Crowley's apartment is as spotless as it is, as well; LeoCorp R&D uses a larger-scale setup in their facilities for a maximum ultra-clean environment. Anything small enough—an errant fleck of dust, a stray chip of paint—that hard-light field will vaporize it in the time it takes to blink. Larger contaminates require a bit more power—which may explain how it reacted to your hand, Masumi."

"It felt like when I shook Q's hand, when I touched that field," Masumi said, touching her own palm, remembering the strange sensation of the hard-light construct making contact with her skin. "But … that doesn't sound standard-issue for living quarters—not even in this day and age."

"Indeed not," replied Himika. "It's more likely Crowley brought them with him from America, then set them up himself."

"Why, though?" Masumi wanted to know. "We found them everywhere. The bedrooms, bathrooms, the halls—Hotene even found a few in the kitchen."

"I'd say he was a messy eater," muttered the tiny Duelist from beside her, "if there was any food in here at all."

"Doubtful," said Himika dryly, "but the lack of his effects within the apartment he himself lived at is still concerning."

Masumi recalled the makeup she'd found in one of the bathrooms. "What about Crowley's roommate—that woman he might have been living with?"

"I'll check with the residence manager if time permits me," said Himika, "see if I can get a name. But if her room is almost as bare as his, as you say, then I don't imagine it being any more than a dead end."

"I hope you don't mean that literally." Fuyu looked a little more pale than usual. "If Seika could get to Crowley, then it could have gotten to this woman, too."

He swallowed. "Maybe Seika already has."

There was a moment of silence on both sides of the line; Masumi could practically hear everyone trying to scrub their minds of such a morbid conclusion. Hotene's hair looked half-wilted already; Yaiba was biting his lip.

" … At any rate," Himika finally said, "I don't think there's any more you can do. Come to my office and make your report. Some new evidence has come to light on my end, and—"

For the second time in as many hours, Masumi did the unthinkable—and interrupted Akaba Himika.

"Hold on—what is it, Yaiba?"

The Synchro Duelist had suddenly gone rigid. The color was draining so rapidly from his face that in another minute, his skin would be as dangerously pasty as Fuyu's.

"I think we may have a problem," he said darkly in an undertone, before turning his attention to Masumi's Duel Disk. "Headmistress—you mentioned these sensor cubes generate Solid Vision, right?"

"Yes … "

"Could they be used," Yaiba asked, biting his lip again, "to generate _Action Fields_?"

"No." Himika's denial cancelled out Masumi's look of shock before it could even properly manifest. "They don't have the hard drive space to store the necessary commands, or the processing power to carry them out. Only the larger-scale emitters within R&D would have the capacity to do either of those … unless."

Just like that—as if she'd suddenly splashed with freezing water—the horrified look was back on Masumi's face.

Then, damnably, Hotene asked the question they were all hoping wouldn't be asked. "Unless … what?"

" … unless they were connected to the Solid Vision network that spans this city." Himika no longer sounded like the imperious force Masumi had come to know; now, with this latest revelation, it was becoming increasingly clear that even the most powerful woman in all of Japan had not anticipated this.

But Yaiba wasn't done. "And where's the nearest RSV generator to this apartment?"

The silence that followed was so prolonged that Masumi wondered if even Himika wanted to find out. Then: "It appears to be a street corner about … ten meters from your … position …"

There was a very long silence. " _… Oh_." Even through the speaker grid of her Duel Disk, Masumi could practically hear her principal's stomach drop.

When she looked back on it later, Masumi thought that the scariest moment of her life, up until that point, had been hearing that last simple "oh," for the simple reason of it coming from the last person she'd expected to hear it from in the first place.

Because now, if what Himika was saying was true, all five of them were once again in mortal danger.

Yaiba muttered a quick "We'd better go", ending the call. Then, slowly—almost mechanically—he returned Masumi's Duel Disk to her, holding it in his hand as if it was a grenade that had yet to go off. He now looked as if he'd just heard a close friend had died—and Masumi instantly knew he'd just come to the same conclusion she had.

"Q mentioned—before your Duel—that he could interface with any RSV generator in a fifteen-meter radius," he said, his voice halting.

"And parts of his programming were patched into our Duel Disks," added Shen, his dark eyes scanning the surroundings warily—scanning each place, Masumi knew, where one of those cubes had been located in this room. "The same parts Seika has probably infected … "

Fuyu swallowed, trembling head to foot. "If that program has been running since we got here … if these cubes are tapped into the RSV network _right now_ … "

Hotene did not speak—she _could_ not, so fearful was the look in her wide blue eyes. But she didn't need to—those eyes spoke all that they needed to hear, and much more they didn't _want_ to hear. Even a nine-year-old had made sense of how much trouble they were in.

 _They'd walked into a trap_.

" … We should never have come here." Masumi was already sprinting for the door. "Everybody out. _Now_."

She swung it open—and instantly froze in her tracks. The sounds of four pairs of feet skidding to a halt behind her barely registered in Masumi's mind.

" _Um_."

Special Agent Moss and Captain Timothy Reed filled the doorway so completely that for Masumi, all else seemed little more than background noise. She could feel her heart pounding, her jaw slackening, the cold sweat beginning to form around her neck, and her eyes growing almost as wide as Hotene's as she realized _oh God we are about to get in so much trouble_

" _So_." Moss' single word carried all the satisfaction of a hawk that had just caught an especially annoying rodent, and was now contemplating whether or not eating it would be worth the effort. "Going somewhere?"

Behind him, at the end of the hallway, the doorman who'd let Masumi and her friends into the building shuffled his feet, two policemen flanking him, and another two off to Reed's and Moss' left. Masumi caught the doorman's eye, and even before he spoke, she suspected this wasn't how he'd wanted his day to pan out, either.

"I did the best I could," he said. "They"—he glanced at Reed and Moss—"threatened me with obstructing their investigation if I didn't let them onto the premises." He hung his head. "I'm sorry."

Captain Reed glowered down at the five children. "You were warned to not impede our efforts in any way," he growled. "Your headmistress was advised of the consequences. You _still_ refused to listen—and because of that, you've crossed a line."

He craned his neck to regard the doorman. "Mr. Takenaka—America thanks you for your cooperation," he said stiffly. "You may escort them off the premises at your convenience."

He stepped forward— _he was going to go inside_.

Immediately, Masumi threw up her arms. Himika's personal feelings about these Americans could wait— _she could not let these men through_.

"No, don't!" she shouted. "You can't go inside!"

"As of now, Masumi Kōtsu, that's no longer your decision to make." And before Masumi could react, Moss' hand had seized her wrist, yanking her out of the threshold and into the hall beside Takenaka, sending her sprawling.

"Now if you'll excuse us," said Moss, raising his voice slightly so as to be heard above the protests of Yaiba and the rest of the LID, "we have a job to complete." He nodded to his companion. "Captain, if you'd be so kind."

He and Reed prepared to muscle through Yaiba and the others—but Masumi was not done. With some difficulty, and an offered hand from Takenaka, she hauled herself to her feet; Moss had tossed her aside none too gently, and she could feel the bruise blossoming across her already aching back.

"Agent Moss, for once in your life, _listen to what I'm trying to say_." Her voice had never sounded so desperate. "That apartment is hooked up to the Solid Vision network that links this entire city. Every room behind that door is part of a giant booby trap—and you're about to walk _right into it_!"

Moss paused—but only for a moment. "You seem to forget," he said with a smirk, "that I'm a field agent of one of the most capable intelligence networks in the _world_ , miss. I've been part of a hundred raids like this one in my career, and I've seen things on some of them that would make a priest curse his god with every other breath he took. So get out of our way, or we will _make you_. I won't ask again."

It felt as if Masumi's brain, and all her senses with it, were working at light speed, while the world around her was doing its damnedest to keep in step. Here, in this moment—caught between a rock and a hard place—the Fusion user seemed to have become more aware of her surroundings than she ever had before. Her keen eyes were almost vibrating in their sockets as they flicked from one person to the next.

In the corner of her eye, she saw Takenaka, awash in his fear and confusion at the scene unfolding before him—

To her left, she saw Captain Reed tense where he stood, bringing one of his shoulders to the forefront of his body, as if preparing to charge—

In front of her, she saw Shen's corded muscles tense as well, as he and Yaiba continued to stare down Reed; she saw them draw closer to Fuyu and Hotene behind them, both children staring wide-eyed, looking scared for their lives—

To her right, she saw Moss' head tilt precisely one millimeter towards the policemen next to Takenaka, then dip his head another millimeter, as if he was nodding—

Then she saw the policemen begin to reach for their belts—for what, she could not yet determine; perhaps the handcuffs to restrain them, a canister of mace to pacify them, or (she heard herself gulp) perhaps even the _guns_ —

 _Would they go that far if the Americans have taken over this investigation then would they go that far would they really want to use lethal force against a group of children for the sake of one of their own people would they do it_

And finally, she saw that she had no other choice.

"The hell with this," she muttered.

Her left arm moved almost without thinking. Before she knew it, her elbow had driven itself into something soft—and the _whoosh_ of air that followed told her that _something_ had been Takenaka's stomach. Instinctively, she'd clenched her fist, hearing the hiss of hard-light from her Duel Disk as the burnt-orange blade shimmered along her arm—she heard Takenaka cry out in pain as the edge of the blade dug further into his chest, knocking him back into the two cops behind him—

Then Masumi's brain caught up with the rest of her body, and she was sprinting down the hallway as if aided by wings. "RUN!"

Immediately, everyone had exploded into action, though the spontaneity of it all made it seem as though it was all happening in slow motion. Reed was reaching inside his suit—both policemen behind _him_ were unhooking something from their belts—then Yaiba and Shen, almost as if anticipating it all, were lunging out from the door—

"Shen, get Fuyu—I'll get Hotene—go, _go_ , GO!" Yaiba, his bamboo _shinai_ in hand, was bellowing out orders as if his life depended on it—perhaps it did—but Masumi did not wish to leave things to chance, to turn around and find out for herself—

But even as the walls flowed past her at speeds she'd never thought she'd achieve with her own two feet, she heard the distinctive cries of a tiny Fusion user and a gaunt Xyz user, then pounding footfalls behind her, too small and light to come from any full-sized man—

Shen's body was a blur as he raced past Masumi, Fuyu clinging to his back like a lifeline, his scarred, pale face open-mouthed but too terrified to even cry out in shock. The Synchro user's superhuman physique propelled him around the corner without so much as pausing; Masumi took the turn too quickly, thumping herself against the wall, bruising herself even further—

But the pain seemed almost an afterthought now—for the first time in her life, Masumi was fleeing _for_ her life, and the only thing that kept her from collapsing on the spot was the notion that Seika would not find them here.

Or so she hoped.

* * *

The speed at which the five kids had moved surprised Agent Moss.

He'd read the file on them, of course; he'd been briefed on their histories, knew what they'd been through to get to this point. But the ordeal they'd gone through had happened in their minds, while they had been rendered comatose, defenseless. It was quite another thing to face a threat that was happening in real-time— _real life_ —and to react the way they were reacting right now, in the face of that threat.

Whether it would help them, of course, was another thing entirely.

 _Why do they always run?_ Moss wondered to himself.

Captain Timothy Reed had been slightly slower to react. By the time his Sig Sauer was in his hand, the bald kid—Shen—had already disappeared into another hallway; there was no point in asking if the police detail Moss had brought with them had been equally prepared.

"No, Captain!" he yelled, as he saw Masumi and the spiky-haired kid follow Shen—out of range, and out of view. "The last thing we need is more paperwork."

Reed lowered his weapon, but the look on his angular face did not conceal his frustration at not being able to wrap this up when they'd had the chance.

He rounded on the policemen. "Detain them," he said tersely. "We'll catch up later."

Both men were already reaching for their radios as they took off down the hall. Reed, meanwhile, took up a position behind Moss as they finally stepped inside Crowley's apartment …

* * *

Masumi, Shen, and Yaiba did not stop running until after they'd crossed the street—traffic be damned—careening into a throng of people who were waiting at a nearby bus stop. None of them were in any shape to apologize for the collision; Yaiba in particular was panting as though he'd just sprinted through a whole marathon.

Only when they'd reached an adjoining alley, and he'd shrugged Hotene off his back, did the tiny Duelist finally speak up. "What just happened up there?"

"I'm with her." Fuyu's rasp could barely be heard over the crowd they'd plowed through. "One moment I see Masumi elbowing that guy with her Duel Disk … the next thing I know, Shen's got me on his back and I'm moving faster than I ever thought I _could_."

"You saw how confident Moss was behaving," Masumi said. "He hardly even flinched when I told him what we'd found in there." Her eyes narrowed. "I think he already knew about the sensor cubes in Crowley's apartment. I'm even willing to bet that they put them inside the place to begin with."

"W-why?"

Yaiba's question only made Masumi shake her head. "I don't know—to monitor him? Keep him in line, make sure he didn't reveal he was a DARPA asset in the past? None of this makes any sense … but it does to Reed and Moss. They _knew_ Crowley was living here, and somehow they knew Himika would send us here, too—they wouldn't have had time to find out where we were going unless they knew we were going _here_."

She set her jaw. "I think they were using Crowley's apartment to set us up—to discredit Himika and LDS so their government could take over the investigation from not only our country, but from LDS as well."

Hotene looked completely lost. " … How?"

"It is simple, when you lend some thought to it." Shen's face looked like it had been carved from sandstone, something Masumi hadn't seen in a long time. "Think about it. Five children inside an apartment they did not reside in? Operating outside the law—and without a search warrant, even? Trapped apartment or no, they would have had every right to arrest us for trespassing."

Yaiba had finally recovered enough breath to speak in complete sentences—and even then, his voice was breathless with shock. "But—but this is _Japan_ , not America!" he spluttered. "They can't just take over authority from our authorities!"

"I think we have to assume they just did," Masumi growled. "These aren't just cops we're dealing with, Yaiba. I know what you mean, though—this _stinks_ ," she spat. "Everything about this stinks."

"I'm calling Himika." Yaiba was already pulling out his Duel Disk. "She needs to know we got double-crossed."

Masumi was on him in the blink of an eye. "No—don't! Deactivate your Duel Disks _right now_. All of you!"

Four pairs of eyes stared back her as if she'd gone utterly mad.

"If Seika really has infected our programming," Masumi reasoned, "that virus could triangulate our position by analyzing our proximity to the nearest Solid Vision network, _just like he did last night_. We need to shut them down _completely_ , or we'll get cornered all over again … and God only knows how many people Seika will kill to get to us next time," she added darkly.

It was an unwelcome thought for all involved; Hotene and Fuyu looked particularly aghast, and scarcely had Masumi shut down her own Duel Disk that both of them had switched off their own as well. The Xyz user looked at his device forlornly as it powered down; Masumi couldn't blame him—for someone so physically weak, losing what might be his only means of defense must have felt akin to losing an arm.

"On that note," Masumi went on, as Shen and Yaiba followed suit, "we need to travel together from now on. Seika got to us the first time because we split up. If we stick together, and that virus pops up again, we can Duel it as a team—and give ourselves a better chance of winning."

Several minutes passed before she decided everyone had had a chance to catch her breath, including herself, and it was then that they finally stepped out of the alley. "We can't stay in confined spaces for too long," she muttered to them. "That's another reason why Seika was able to corner us so completely. If we keep ourselves to wide-open spaces—places without too much people—then it'll be safer for everyone."

Yaiba still looked skeptical. "Well, how do we contact the Headmistress?" he asked. "We've got to let her know we're all right _somehow_!"

Masumi had been thinking that herself. As much as she didn't want to think about Himika right now—considering all the underhanded things her principal had done in her own pursuit of Seika—the encounter in Crowley's apartment, what they'd found inside it, and the conclusion to which it had led them had left them with virtually no other alternative.

They were Duelists—but they were still kids. Masumi knew full well that they were not CIA field agents, like Moss—or hardened military men, like Reed, for that matter. No doubt they had sent those policemen out after them to track them down, or keep them from going too far.

And how far could five Duelists stray from the full might of the government—American or otherwise?

The Fusion Duelist shook her head in hopeless frustration—and then saw something near the bus stop they'd cut through earlier to get to that alley. The sight of the tiny structure caused something inside her chest to swell up, as if she knew she was looking at what might be the LID's very last hope—but she knew they had to act quickly—

"Yaiba," she spoke—slowly, as if not believing it herself, "when was the last time you used a _phone booth_?"

* * *

 _3:21 P.M._

" _Damn them!_ "

Himika pounded her fist on the desk. It was a miracle—given her anger at this latest development—that the tempered glass surface didn't crack from the force of the impact.

Only a minute ago, the receptionist had contacted her, claiming that Masumi was calling from a landline and demanding a private backline as if it was the easiest thing in the world to procure. The headmistress' earlier confrontation with her prized Fusion Duelist was still in sharp focus, enough so to note the abrupt shift in attitude and—on any other day—wonder if Masumi was beginning to think a little _too much_ like her.

A few minutes before that, human resources had delivered—per Nakajima's instructions—as much information about the Leo Corporation's temporary hires, past and present, as could be sent in an email. That information was now spilling over Himika's computer screen, displaying lines of text and pictures of men and women in a jumbled blur that she doubted had been sorted in any conceivable way until she'd ordered it on her desk.

But this had suddenly taken second fiddle to what Masumi had had to say on her recent encounter with Reed and Moss—and the unexpected turn it had taken.

"I should have known the Americans wouldn't wait to make their move," she fumed. "Their Secretary of Defense will be hearing from me about this, I can promise you that."

"I don't think that'll be enough—if they've got the city police working for them now, it's going to make it a lot harder for us to do what you're asking."

Masumi's voice sounded scratchy and oddly squashed from the phone receiver she was speaking into; it sounded like the rest of the LID had been crammed in there with her. It still surprised Himika that there would be any use for a phone booth these days—but then, privacy was a serious enough issue for some people that perhaps they would always be necessary. She thought of Shirai and his recent foibles, and wondered if Nakajima had been able to bring the man around yet after he'd fainted in R&D earlier.

She waved it aside after a few moments, though; it wasn't her problem right now. "Leave the police to me. I need you back here on the double," she said. "I've made a breakthrough in our investigation. I'm now able to narrow our list of suspects down to two groups of people, and I can also—"

But exactly what those groups were—or how she'd be able to narrow them down further still—Himika never had time to say; the next thing she heard was Masumi uttering a static-laced curse under her breath.

Then, through the earpiece: " _This is the MCPD! Step out with your hands over your heads!_ "

Himika's own curse drowned out the click of the line abruptly disconnecting. The police had found them already—she had to call Mayor Sawatari _yesterday_ , if she was to keep things from getting any worse than they already were—

And then—at the exact moment she'd picked her phone back up again—a loud BOOM rumbled the windows from outside.

"What the _devil_ was that?!"

But even as Himika demanded the question to her empty office, the sinking feeling in her stomach told her more than enough: Seika had struck again—and this time, there was nothing the LID could do about it.

* * *

 **A/N: I struggled for a while as to where I should end this one. The next chapter's going to involve a fair-sized Duel, and those do tend to chew up my word count something fierce.**

 **Talking of fierce: my part-time job is looking to turn into a full-time one very soon. When, exactly, I don't know, but it's travel-intensive enough that I wanted to say something now before I end up disappearing from the internet yet again, only to resurface with little warning just like I did here. Check my profile for any subsequent developments on that end.**

 **Thanks for reading! - K**


	9. IX

IX

 _3:22 P.M._

All was quiet in Nakajima's car as he drove through town. The gaze of Himika's aide barely wavered from the road ahead as he maneuvered through traffic.

Behind him, Shirai Toshio sat slumped in the backseat. The Leo Corporation's lead programmer—Nakajima still called him that because Himika had yet to decide otherwise—was deliberately not looking at him, except for when he saw the man in the corner of his eye, and then only from the rear-view mirror.

Nakajima felt little pity for the man; Shirai had barely protested his innocence since he'd come to from fainting earlier. He seemed resigned, at the very least, to the notion that his career at LeoCorp might have reached an inauspicious end—for perhaps the least likely reason imaginable. All that kept him going was the faint hope that this might be some sort of bad dream.

They passed the You Show Duel School. As the brightly colored building blurred past him, Nakajima became aware of his personal mobile buzzing.

He frowned. "Display."

At his single command, the windshield faintly glowed, displaying a short message—only five words—that somehow managed to convey the terseness of the person who had sent it:

* * *

 _Turn on the news. Now._

* * *

The burly aide flicked a switch, letting the noise of the radio filter through the sound system. It took a while for him to tune to the station he was looking for—

"— _live from the scene—exclusive report—another explosion less than five miles from the Leo Duel School—casualties are confirmed_ —"

Nakajima was too distracted by the news to be completely sure of what happened next. He only remembered slamming on the brakes so hard he was nearly rear-ended by a sedan, and feeling something crash into his seat.

It was only when that something _reached under his neck_ that Nakajima belatedly realized he had it backwards: Shirai had lunged forward, seatbelt be damned, and actually _put him in a headlock_ —of all the insane stunts he could possibly have pulled! The sheer audacity of the act was all that had kept him from crashing the car just now.

"I don't want trouble." Shirai did not give Nakajima the first chance to speak. "I don't want to hurt you."

Then Nakajima's brain caught up with the world around him, and instantly his free hand had reached up to Shirai's wrist to pluck it from his neck. But the lead programmer's strength was surprising— _how desperate is he_ , wondered the aide, _that he would assault me, of all people?!_

"You're in no position to make threats," he managed to growl.

"I'm not trying to threaten you—I'm trying to _save you_." Shirai's voice was trembling. "We both know Seika caused that explosion. And if you don't listen to me—if you don't give me what I want—then that virus will cover our hands in so much blood that we will _never_ be able to wash them clean."

Nakajima's nostrils flared. "Humoring you for no reason—what _do_ you want?"

Shirai's grip relaxed then, but not completely; Nakajima suspected he knew he had the upper hand here.

The programmer only spoke two words. "Your phone."

"Why?"

But even as Nakajima asked the question, he suspected he knew the answer. Even from the rearview mirror, he could see Shirai eyeing his personal mobile. The same one he used to talk to one person—and one person only.

* * *

Things happened so quickly that even Masumi's eyes, still hyper-focused from the adrenaline that had been surging through her ever since their escape, had little time to take it all in.

" _This is the MCPD! Step out with your hands over your heads!_ "

Scarcely had the bark of the bullhorn registered in her ear when no less than eight police cars—black-and-white Toyotas, sirens blaring and scarlet lights ablaze—had skidded to a halt in the street. Two cops burst from each one, weapons in hand.

And pointed right at the phone booth she and her friends had squashed themselves into.

The Fusion Duelist didn't trust herself to think, let alone speak. Even the threat of Seika tracking them down felt insignificant now; Masumi knew that if any of them so much as reached for their Duel Disk, sixteen bullets—courtesy of the Maiami City Police—would make sure they wouldn't get far.

She hung up the phone; the bullhorn was loud enough that Himika would have heard it over the line. Gesturing for the others to follow suit, Masumi began to raise her hands—

 _BOOM_.

—right as a horribly familiar plume of blue fire erupted from the building across from where the LID stood … the same apartment, a stunned Masumi realized too late, where J.D. Crowley had once lived.

The force of the blast shattered the windows of the booth; Masumi leaped in front of Hotene to protect her from the exploding glass. Through the ruined panes, she saw passersby leaping back in shock, and several onlookers running away from the scene. The policemen had whirled around at the building, completely distracted.

"Are you okay?" Masumi hollered at Hotene. The tiny Duelist had curled herself into a ball the moment Masumi had shielded her. She was seen to faintly nod from within that ball, and inwardly she relaxed.

"We're good, too," Yaiba grunted from beneath Shen; both Synchro users had practically plastered themselves against Fuyu when the booth glass had broken. The Xyz Duelist, squashed against Shen, could do little more than raise his thumb.

 **"** ** _And so am I._** **"**

It felt as though a giant pit had opened up in Masumi's stomach. She'd been hoping never to hear that voice again, even though she knew the moment would inevitably come—

She bit her tongue, looked up—and felt that great pit widen further still.

Seika's beady eyes seemed to pierce her like so many needles, even from across the street. Azure flames licked the virus' black cloak as it hovered in the air, drifting down to earth from the massive hole that had been blasted through Crowley's apartment. Although Masumi knew full well both flames and cloak were nothing more than light made solid, this time, she knew enough about them both to know that these Solid Vision holograms were all too real.

But what frightened her most of all were the two limp, feebly stirring forms that were floating either side of Seika.

Agent Moss and Captain Reed looked nothing like the toughened, gung-ho Americans the LID had confronted barely five minutes ago. Both looked thoroughly beaten; Moss' left arm and Reed's right leg flopped about so obscenely that Masumi instantly knew they were broken—in how many places, she didn't even want to guess.

"I caught them sneaking around in places they ought not be." Seika used its invisible, Solid Vision grip to shake Reed and Moss about like a pair of rag dolls. "I can't help but wonder _why_."

No one spoke.

"Maybe I wasn't being clear." And then, without warning, two _CRACK_ s split the stillness of the scene in quick succession; a sickened Masumi saw Reed's left leg, and Moss' right arm, dangling helplessly beside them—just like their other broken limbs.

"Tell them _everything_ ," Seika growled at them both, "before I decide to start an _international incident_."

Immediately, some unseen force hoisted Reed and Moss up by their shirt collars—and the Fusion user realized in horror that Seika intended to follow through on his threat. Instinctively, she covered Hotene's eyes; the little girl was too shocked at the threat to protest.

Silence followed. Masumi thought she could see Reed's lips moving, but it was impossible to hear what he might be saying.

"I don't think they caught that." Seika's purr made every hair on her neck stand up. "Why don't you _raise your voice?_ "

There was a clicking noise and a brief burst of static from somewhere Masumi couldn't determine—and then, as if by magic, the strained voice of Captain Timothy Reed echoed through the street for all to hear.

"Orders … from Defense Secretary … " he choked out. "LeoCorp … supercomputer … declared asset … of interest … must recover … whatever cost … "

Masumi's mind was already spinning. She already knew that the American government—at its highest echelons—were intent on recovering Q; that letter they'd shown Himika from before was proof of that. But to hear that they'd been ordered to retrieve it in ways that might not even be legal?!

Her fingers were reaching for the phone in the booth. The receiver slipped out of her fumbling grip, but Masumi didn't care; she was already punching in the same number she'd used a few minutes ago—

"What do you want with Q?" Seika demanded.

"A.I. … programming … possible use … military … " Reed was struggling for breath. "We could … take apart … build back up … whatever they wanted … " He made a hacking laugh. "Change war … as we know it … "

So the Americans were hoping to reverse-engineer Q in order to develop a new mode of warfare. Masumi could only imagine the rage on Himika's face if she were here to see this confession take place; there was no way even the chairwoman of LeoCorp could have conceded that these kinds of ends justified these kinds of means.

All the crowds that surrounded them looked torn in indecision, muttering amongst themselves while gazing warily at Seika. The closest of them to Masumi looked as if they couldn't decide between listening at the bombshells the virus was already dropping … or running from the bombshells that were yet to come.

"And how did you intend on catching your very own Dueling supercomputer?" Seika's voice was dripping with intent to kill.

This time, he shook Moss by the broken leg. The CIA agent gave a strangled howl at this; his cries, too, had been amplified tenfold—and it was then that Masumi realized why this was possible.

Unbeknownst to the casual observer, the lifelike behavior of every Duel Monster that had been made into a card was a two-fold process. First, there was the three-dimensional hologram; the second step involved extrapolating the sounds such a monster could make—say, the roars of a Dragon-Type monster, the bellows of a Beast-Type, or the battlecries of a Warrior-Type. To produce these sounds, Solid Vision generators came with their own speaker grids, placed such that any noise they produced appeared to come from the Duel Monster that had just been Summoned.

Seika, it appeared, had now managed to commandeer those speakers. The significance of this development was not lost on Masumi; it told her just how thoroughly the virus had managed to compromise the Solid Vision network that linked the entire city. It could utilize the capabilities of any nearby Solid Vision generator to give itself physical form—now, it seemed, it could do much the same to give it a voice that anyone in this city—and potentially _everyone_ —could readily hear.

"You … LID … bait … " Moss was saying. "Crowley … apartment … linked … Solid Vision. Linked … to Q. LID … finds apartment … you find them … we find you … we find Q … "

" _What?!_ " Yaiba looked angrier than Masumi had ever seen him. The Synchro Duelist's voice was little more than a hiss; he was gripping his bamboo _shinai_ so tightly that it was a wonder he hadn't broken the thing in two.

Even from here, Masumi could see the smile on Moss' face. "Three birds … one stone … "

"Three birds." Seika repeated the words with something that sounded like intense satisfaction. " _One stone_." The beady eyes flashed from under its cloak—and instantly, Masumi knew what was about to happen—

 _CRACK_.

The Fusion user flung herself on Hotene, covering the tiny Duelist's eyes and ears while squeezing her own shut. But it was already too late to stop herself from hearing the screams of the crowds around them at the sickening noise—like thin ice on a back road, crushed underfoot with barely any effort—

 _CRUNCH_.

Masumi felt bile in her throat when she heard the disgustingly wet noise of flesh hitting concrete, above and either side of the building behind her. She didn't even want to look, didn't want to see what it could possibly have done to Reed or Moss; she heard bits of rubble raining down from the spots where their bodies must have been flung against the walls—

Fuyu was insensate with shock. Shen looked grim. Passersby were slack-jawed, horrified at the callous act they had just witnessed. Mothers and fathers were clutching children, their faces equally pale and tear-stricken; husbands, wives, and friends were clutching each other in utter terror. Some of them had even been holding their Duel Disks like cameras, no doubt regretting capturing the shocking moments live and in color.

"He killed them … " An ashen-faced Yaiba was swaying where he stood; it looked as though he might faint. "I don't believe it … he just snapped their necks and … and _killed them_ … "

Against all her better wishes, Masumi opened her eyes.

There was no sign of Reed or Moss—nothing to suggest either American had ever stepped foot in Maiami City. Nothing … except for two gaping holes, some ten stories above the LID in the building directly behind them … holes just big enough to have accommodated a full-grown man apiece …

" _Two birds down_." Seika spoke with near-animal relish. " ** _One to go._** "

* * *

 _3:25 P.M._

Masumi's dropping the receiver in the phone booth had not been entirely accidental. The number she'd dialed—both then and now—had taken her to the LDS front desk. The receptionist, therefore, had heard every word that had been spoken—at least, until reason got the better of her and suggested her boss needed to be hearing this _yesterday_.

Now, as Akaba Himika listened to the final noises of the same two men that had attempted to strong-arm her into giving up Q barely an hour ago, an unfamiliar feeling had settled within her. As angry as she wanted to feel with the Americans for how they'd attempted to go behind her back—and Himika had been feeling _exceptionally_ furious, there was no doubt about that—Seika's actions had managed to do the impossible, snuffed out that fury … and replaced it with a sudden, growing _fear_.

The chairwoman couldn't believe it herself—she was _afraid_. Afraid for her company, how Seika had used its technology for untold levels of compromise, deception, and destruction—afraid for her country, and what the Americans might do when they discovered two of their government servants had been murdered in cold blood on Japanese soil—afraid for herself, and what the public might think of her in the future, after everything that had been revealed today.

But most of all, Himika was afraid for her students—caught in the line of fire with little, if any, avenue of escape left to them.

It was indeed an unfamiliar feeling, to put the fears of others before her own; a cynical part of her wondered if she might be going soft in her old age again. But the feeling was far from altruistic, either—Himika was fully aware that the five children huddled in that shattered phone booth were more than mere students in her eyes. She had given them that distinction; she could not simply take it away from them now, of all times!

They would have to live up to her expectations, she'd told herself then—but would that matter now, if they weren't able to live through this at all?

Her phone rang suddenly, destroying the silence around her. Himika answered it with only the barest sense of awareness. "Yes?"

"It's me." Nakajima sounded like the voice of God. "I've got Shirai with me—he wants to speak with you personally."

Himika blinked stupidly. "What?" Then it came back to her: she'd just suspended Shirai Toshio for compromising personal information—an act that might well have led to the deaths of over thirty people … and very likely more.

She heard a jostling noise from the other end of the line. Then, the voice of her one-time lead programmer filtered through the speaker. It was halting, fearful … but beneath it was a veneer of sudden boldness she hadn't thought possible from the man she'd cowed into a dead faint earlier that day.

"Chairwoman … I only ask that I am allowed to speak my piece. After that … you may do with me as you will."

 _Don't think I haven't ruled it out_ , the more cynical part of Himika thought. "Speak it, then," she said, as imperiously as she could under the circumstances.

"I know Seika's just appeared again." Shirai was talking much faster now. "I don't know how many people it's already killed—but we have to stop it _now_ , before it makes last night look like a walk in the park. I can help you, but I'll need yours as well to make it happen."

Himika considered this. "Go on."

* * *

" _OPEN FIRE!_ "

"No!" But Masumi's strangled yell was in vain—no sooner had the rubble from the impacts of Reed's and Moss' bodies settled on the ground that sixteen men and women of the Maiami City Police Department had swiveled their gun sights from the LID onto the virus responsible—

 _It's a hologram it's just light made solid bullets won't do a thing to Seika all you're doing is wasting your time_

Dozens more protests—one for each bullet the MCPD was currently firing at Seika—flew through her head with each gunshot that split the air in two. She knew even before the bullets stopped flying that none of them had hit their marks, that they hadn't even caused a ripple in Seika's holographic body—

—and sure enough, the virus didn't even sound the slightest bit affected. "What made you think _that_ would work?" Seika asked disdainfully. The police lowered their weapons, looking utterly lost as to what to do next.

The speaker grid from which its mechanical snarl issued made it seem as though it was coming from every direction, like the herald of some all-powerful demon. "I _could_ have stopped them," Seika went on, "but that would have been a bigger waste of my time—and there are _many_ things I'd rather do than deal with _pests_."

The huge curve of spikes and metal that floated at its back now began to spark with energy. "Still," it hissed, "while I may think on a higher level than the rest of you lower life forms … that doesn't mean I can't _indulge_ every once in a while."

Masumi saw only too late the blossoms of sapphire-colored flames blooming over Seika—before they suddenly shrank into dimensionless points and _launched_ —right for the nearest police car.

The detonation that followed nearly sent the Fusion user flying, even from ten feet away, engulfing the half-black, half-white Toyota in the time it took to draw breath. And Seika wasn't done. Once—twice—thrice—again and again, one hell-flower after another burst into life above the virus' holographic body, before shrinking just as quickly and flinging themselves in every direction.

The explosions seemed to bloom and wither away before Masumi's eyes, like trees whose lifespans were mere seconds. It was impossible to say when they all stopped, nor did it matter; by the time the last explosion had faded away, eight police cars had become eight piles of twisted scrap—and scarcely had Masumi's eyes taken this in when those eight piles of twisted scrap now began to float into the air, borne by the Solid Vision grip of Seika.

Then she saw the policemen under them—some of them having to drag their comrades away, whether from injuries or worse—and felt that hopelessness inside her chest drop into her bowels like a lead weight—

For a moment, as the Fusion Duelist felt her body turn leaden, heard the breath expire in her lungs, time seemed to freeze before her. The piles of scrap with which Seika intended to literally crush its opponents continued to hover aloft—but did not come down. What few onlookers still remained—the rest having sensibly fled the scene—were still as wide-eyed and -mouthed as when Reed and Moss had met their end, hardly even blinking. Even the vivid blue fire that encircled Seika and its prey like some microcosm of hell seemed to have frozen; each individual tongue of flame stabbing upwards into the sky like so many transient blades—

Reason chose that moment to finally catch up with Masumi—fire couldn't simply _freeze_ like that … _unless_ …

Then something even more unbelievable reached her ears: the telltale sound of a single Duel Disk—then two, three, and finally five— _switching itself on_.

Masumi didn't even need to look down at her wrist to know that one of those Duel Disks had been her own; beside her, there were murmurs of surprise from Yaiba and the others. But they had all been shut down, she knew—she'd done so herself! Why, then, had they suddenly activated without her pressing a single button?!

And more importantly, how had Seika found them even without tracking those Disks in the first place?!

* * *

 _Leo Duel School_

"All right," said Himika, giving her fingers a quick break after spending what felt like the longest few minutes of her life behind her keyboard. "That's that done—all five of their Duel Disks have been remotely activated."

It certainly wasn't the phrase she'd have used when Shirai Toshio had explained what sort of help he'd needed from her. In all the time she'd spent as the chief executive of LeoCorp, she'd never have dreamed that she would need to hack into her own equipment; nor, she thought, that someone she'd just recently suspended would be teaching her how to do it. It seemed, however, that these past few days were rapidly becoming days of many firsts indeed.

"It's a start," Shirai said over her phone. "The protocols built within the RSV generators we installed throughout the city should recognize those activated Duel Disks, and prime themselves for an incoming Duel. It won't completely stop Seika's powers over Solid Vision—but it will force the virus to adhere to those protocols and confine it to the immediate vicinity."

"Which buys us all some time," finished Himika. "Nakajima—order the control room to isolate all Solid Vision generators that are currently involved with an active Duel site, then shut down the rest. That should only leave two locations where Seika can manifest: its current location, and LDS itself."

"So that virus has nowhere else to go," Nakajima said over the phone, understanding. "I'll inform them straightaway, Himika- _san_."

"What about the LID?" Shirai wanted to know. "We shut those generators down, Seika won't let _them_ escape, either!"

"This isn't about escaping." Himika was already dialing a number. "I want to _own_ this virus, Shirai. To do that, I need access into the supercomputer it's controlling. To do _that_ , I need your assistance to keep me from getting lost—and I need the LID to keep the majority of Seika's efforts focused on _them_ instead of us. And to do _that_ … "

She did not finish her sentence. Nor did she need to; the silence from both her top aide and her former top programmer told her they understood enough of their role in her plan … and that, much like her, they knew each party's success would depend upon the other.

* * *

Masumi stared at her navy Duel Disk as if it had just gained sentience. Its burnt-orange blade continued to sizzle in the air, the noise lost in the roaring blue flames that continued to belch out of Crowley's apartment. The crumpled police cars that Seika had intended to use as crushing weapons continued to hover in the air, suspended by Solid Vision; their occupants had long since retreated to safer ground, or were serving to evacuate the few passersby left who felt brave enough to watch the ongoing scene.

Behind her, Yaiba and the rest of the LID were examining their own Duel Disks; she didn't need to look round at them all to gauge their own confusion.

"What's going on here?" Yaiba was fiddling with the settings menu on his screen, as if that might answer his question. "Did Seika hack our Duel Disks?"

" _No. I did_."

Compared to the shock of watching Seika burst out of Crowley's apartment, murder two Americans, and almost literally crush an entire platoon of policemen—all in that order—hearing Himika's voice from her Duel Disk yet again felt, for Masumi, almost minor in comparison. Even her _blasé_ admission to switching on their Duel Disks didn't feel all that earth-shattering to Masumi anymore.

"Time is short, so I must be brief: my people are working on a way to contain Seika," Himika explained. "Perhaps if we're lucky, we can learn a little bit more as to what makes that virus tick. Keep Seika busy for as long as you can—the longer you're able, the better chance of success we can get."

Yaiba swallowed. " … If you're suggesting what I think you are, Headmistress," he said hesitantly, "then I'd just like to make a friendly reminder that we _lost_ last time! Badly, at that!"

It was Masumi's turn to gulp. The prospect of going up against Seika's enigmatic _Infernoids_ for the second time in two days was already bringing back painful memories of their Duel. Already she could feel the choking sensation around her neck—the heat from the collapsing, burning restaurant that had been their battleground.

"Except _now_ , there's a difference." Himika was beginning to sound impatient—never a good sign. "This time, there's _five_ of you. I hope that's enou—"

The line seemed to fritz all of a sudden—before promptly going dead a moment later. Confounded, Masumi glanced once at her Duel Disk, wondering if the call had dropped for some strange reason.

Then— _"If I had nerves, that woman would be working my last one right about now."_

Seika's quasi-mechanical growl sounded much closer to them—and an instant later, Masumi realized why: she'd looked up from her Duel Disk to notice Seika barely ten meters away from the wrecked phone booth where they still huddled. Its tattered black cloak, holographic as it was, looked eerily real as it fluttered about in the nonexistent wind—and its beady eyes looked even more so against the impossibly dark void from which they peered.

" _So_." Those eyes blinked once, and the eight cars it had smashed now fell to the pavement behind it. "So … your headmistress believes she can _contain_ me." The virus let loose a cybernetic snort—a burst of static from the RSV generators around them. "That she can _protect_ you like she wants to protect her company … her city … her _skin_."

The spiked metal curve on its back began to drift downwards again; a wary Masumi felt her legs take a step back. "But Himika Akaba is not as infallible as she would like to believe," hissed Seika. "Tonight, I am going to show her just how _powerless_ she really is against the inevitable.

"And I will start," it said, "with the five of you."

Seika's Duel Disk snarled to life with a hellish noise, its scarlet blade arcing along the length of metal that had settled, apparently unsupported, in front of its cloaked body.

"Those generators and their _protocols_ may yet restrict me from using my powers to the extent they deserve," said Seika, floating a few inches higher above the road now. "Nevertheless, I find a certain … _pleasure_ in beating people at their own game." It cocked its head upwards some, glancing just behind the LID. "Just ask those Americans."

Masumi cursed the virus under her breath at the implication. "Battle Royale rules, then," she said heavily, knowing there was no other way out of this situation for any of them. As much as her survival instincts were telling her to flee—as much as she believed Akaba Himika was capable of solving this problem for herself, despite what Masumi might think of her now—it was a risk she could not find within herself to take.

"Oh, no," sneered Seika. "No, no, no—I heard you talking with your headmistress before I severed the connection. There are indeed five of you, as she said—but let's make this one a little more _interesting_."

Before Masumi could look properly astonished, her screen had lit up with a message bubble that distracted her completely: **_TAG DUEL MODE ONLINE_**. The computerized voice that announced it barely a moment later did nothing to quell her surprise.

"Tag Duel?!" Yaiba looked, if anything, even more shocked. "That's only meant for two-on-two matches! There's no way it could work with five of _us_ and one of Seika!"

"No … there's a way."

Rokkaku Fuyu spoke so quietly that Masumi thought she might have imagined the words at first. But even as the words sunk in, amplifying her shock yet again, she knew from Yaiba that he and Shijima Hokuto had participated in Tag Duels alongside each other plenty of times, and had competed as a team in past tournaments to devastating effect. It seemed only natural, then, that he'd have something to share about such a complex form of Dueling.

"I've only seen it applied a few times before," the Xyz Duelist rasped. "It's an obscure rule—and even then I've never seen it work with so many people. But a single Duelist can choose to be their own team, to fight a whole team of them working together. It's different from a Battle Royale: in Tag Duels, both teams share a field, a Graveyard—and even the same pool of Life Points. What's more, whoever doesn't go first won't have to skip their Draw Phase or Battle Phase on their first turn, either."

Masumi blinked. On any other day, she would have called such a matchup one of the most imbalanced she'd ever heard of. But the notion that Seika—of all things—had suggested it to them made her more than a little skeptical. Was the virus that confident in its abilities?

" … What's the catch?" she asked warily.

"The _catch_ ," Seika rumbled from across them, "is that I take every other turn."

The Fusion user did a double take. _Every other turn?!_

"You want to fight me as a team?" Seika asked. "I'm giving you the chance _right now_. Or do you _still_ think you'd be fighting an imbalanced Duel with five of you and one of me?" It narrowed its eyes, and added coldly, "Because I can change _that_ , too."

And no sooner had it said this, indeed, that four more holograms of Seika—each as black-robed, blue-eyed, and menacing as the original—shimmered into view with hardly a whisper of noise.

Masumi shook her head, far too quickly. "No—no," she said hurriedly. "One of you was enough," she said under her breath.

But Seika had heard. "Very well," it said simply, and its four _doppelgängers_ faded from view with even less noise than they'd appeared. "Tag Duel rules, five against one; I take every other turn. And I wouldn't recommend calling for _outside help_ on this one," it added with a sneer. "Those Duel Disks of yours have been helpful enough already."

Masumi bit her lip as she realized what Seika was saying. She knew that the software patch Himika had installed into their Duel Disks had been meant as a way for them to have quick access to Q—even to the point of it assisting them in a Duel. Unfortunately, however, it sounded as though Seika had had the same idea; the damnable virus had sealed the supercomputer away from any attempt to reach it. Q was worse than useless to them now.

She could only hope that Himika would come through for them and possibly change that. For now, it was time to make a strategy—and already, another symbolic, unrefined rock was beginning to take shape in her brain.

"Fuyu," she muttered in an undertone, so that Seika couldn't hear, "take the first turn. Don't worry about saving your strength right now—the bigger monster you can throw at Seika, the better. Shen, you'll go after him. Do the same thing you did to beat me in our Duel last month, if you can."

Both boys nodded at her; Shen and Fuyu were too busy eyeing Seika warily to do or say anything more.

"Hotene, Yaiba—you and I can focus on Seika itself. If we're lucky, Fuyu and Shen can give us the path we need to get there."

"Right." The Synchro Duelist clenched the fist that bore his bamboo _shinai_ , placing it over his shoulder to give himself a free hand. The little girl beside him gave a thumbs-up, still not taking her eyes off the virus.

A thought occurred to Masumi then. "Everyone, try to do as much as you can when you take your turn. The more time we're able to chew up, the more time we can give LeoCorp to suppress Seika from their end. But don't be blatant about it," she warned them. "Seika already knows we're trying to stall it—so don't give it the time to find a way past us or them."

"So we get to show off, then?" A wry grin twisted Yaiba's face. "Going out in a blaze of glory, are we?"

Masumi raised her Duel Disk to her chest. "We're not going anywhere—and _neither are you, Seika_!" she shouted at the virus as four other Duelists mirrored her actions in kind.

"That's the idea." The virus' synthetic voice purred with cruel intent. "Field Spell, activate: _Flood of Purgatory_!"

The few spectators left to witness the showdown fled at that moment, scrambling to put a considerable distance between themselves the blue flames that continued to roil and roar from J.D. Crowley's apartment. For these flames were now beginning to spread out in every direction as if they had suddenly become alive, consuming everything that they touched. Trees and cars, buildings and pavement—even the air itself seemed helpless before the all-devouring fire.

It seemed like only a matter of seconds had passed before that all-devouring fire now encircled the LID and their opponent. Though the LID knew much of this fire was only Solid Vision, and that much of their surroundings, therefore, would be unharmed when the Duel was done, they knew all too well what the master who controlled that fire was also capable of doing with its power.

For a moment, there was silence, broken only by the inferno that raged around them—now little more than a backdrop for what might be the most important fight of their lives.

But only for a moment.

 ** _"_** ** _DUEL!"_**

* * *

Deep within LeoCorp, a screen the size of an entire wall shimmered to life. Six card-like rectangles—five each that bore the likeness of an LDS student, while the sixth remained blank and unknown—appeared in a fanlike shape. Dueling telemetry spread out in every direction from each image, and its presence was noted by a number of technicians within the room.

" _…_ _have a Tag Duel initiated … sector AC-22 …_ "

" _…_ _confirming for … six participants … five against one …_ "

Life Point counters—4000 for each side—appeared on the top and bottom of the screen; a number of lines spread out from the latter of these to connect the five Duelists who would be fighting as a team.

" … green to Duel, Himika- _san_ ," one of the technicians now spoke into her headset. "Understood. Good luck."

As the line disconnected, the woman could not resist a shiver as she stared at the screen—the only link between the chamber she occupied and the Duel she was monitoring. Like everyone else who was here, she knew the stakes for which this battle was taking place. It wasn't just LDS who had to come through victorious here—it was the entirety of the Leo Corporation, from the lowest errand runner to the highest exec. If one of them lost, so would the other.

So it was with no small amount of emotion—if not of volume—that this technician whispered four words to herself. Four words—no more—that she had little doubt everyone else in the room with her were silently thinking with her:

" _Go kick some ass_."

* * *

It was a sentiment each member of the LID shared—and intended to carry out—as they drew their five cards.

"I'll go first." Fuyu's voice, though raspy as ever, was even now becoming more confident as he took a swift glance at his opening hand—then placing the card in its center on his lavender blade. "I'll start by Normal Summoning _Satellarknight Unuk_ in Attack Position!"

Before him, a dark-skinned humanoid, surrounded by a golden hoop and covered head to tail in white-gold armor, shimmered onto the field (Level 4: _ATK 1800_ /DEF 1000). It was a monster that Masumi knew from experience to be one of the stronger monsters in Fuyu's Main Deck—so it reassured her to know that he intended on taking her earlier suggestion to heart.

She also knew from experience, though, that the Xyz Duelist wouldn't stop there.

"Once per turn, if _Unuk_ is Summoned," Fuyu said, "I can send another _tellarknight_ monster from my Deck to the Graveyard! Then," he added as he did so, before then taking a _second_ card out of his hand and swiping _that_ on his Duel Disk, "I activate the Quick-Play Spell: _Starcrossed Satellarknights_!"

 _Unuk_ began to glow with a radiance that seemed almost divine. "Once per turn, I can target a _tellarknight_ monster I control—and then, by shuffling that monster back into my Deck, I can Special Summon a different _tellarknight_ monster from my Deck! So I'll target my _Unuk_ and Special Summon _Satellarknight Altair_ in Attack Position!"

The light that consumed _Unuk_ now flared and faded—but in its place stood a wholly different monster; this one, a winged humanoid, slightly smaller than its predecessor—though still enclosed within another thin ring of gold—and covered in sky-blue silk beneath its gleaming armor (Level 4: _ATK 1700_ /DEF 1300).

"Once per turn, if _Altair_ is Summoned," explained Fuyu, "I can target another _tellarknight_ monster in my Graveyard, and Special Summon it in Defense Position! So I'll revive the same monster I sent to my Graveyard with _Unuk's_ effect— _Satellarknight Vega_!"

He ejected a card from his jet-black Duel Disk. Moments later, a second armored, hooped humanoid took shape to _Altair's_ left; this one wore glistening robes of light purple, and sashes of gold that seemed to shimmer like metal made liquid as it settled onto the field in a kneeling position (Level 4: ATK 1200/ _DEF 1600_ ).

Masumi had to do her best to restrain a grin at this point—somehow, she knew what Fuyu might be planning to do. The fact that she'd lost to almost exactly the same strategy from him just a month ago might have been the only reason the Fusion user hadn't yet failed to keep her joy under control.

"Once per turn, if _Vega_ is Summoned," Fuyu went on, "I can Special Summon another _tellarknight_ monster from my hand! I choose to Summon my _Satellarknight Deneb_ in Attack Position!"

Even as Masumi felt the urge to smile become that much more tempting, a third monster began to take shape before her eyes. This one seemed to shine the brightest of the trio; the golden armor and swan-white skin of _Deneb_ (Level 4: _ATK 1500_ /DEF 1000) reflected the blazing blue flames around it in a light show that dazzled the eyes.

By now, Fuyu was well in his element. "Once per turn, if _Deneb_ is Summoned," he declared, "I can add another _tellarknight_ monster from my Deck to my hand!" He did so, slipping the card that had been spat out an inch from his Deck into his waiting fingers.

"And now," he said, "using my Level 4 _Vega_ , _Deneb_ , and _Altair_ —"

All three monsters crouched where they stood. Masumi felt her fists clench in triumph. _Yes! He's going to do it!_

 _"—_ _I construct the Overlay Network!_ "

Even before Fuyu's scream had left his mouth, a galaxy of light had erupted above him. At the same time, golden energy had blazed beneath the armor of his three monsters, enveloping them all and expanding around them, before it was sucked into the hoops that orbited them all. Now these, too, began to glow with that energy, and rose into the air as if hurled by a gymnast, sucked into the mass of stars above—

 **"** **Shining knight of the summer sky,"** Fuyu chanted, **"whose blade was forged in the blazing wrath of the stars, cut down your foes with blinding light!"**

 **"** **Xyz Summon! Come forth before us! Rank 4!** ** _Stellarknight Deltatheros_** **!"**

The swirling galaxy flared, and seemed to explode before Masumi's eyes, so bright was the radiance that emerged from its black center.

As the Fusion user's eyes adjusted to the light, she saw that something else, too, had emerged with it: ten feet tall, and covered head-to-toe in white-blue armor (Rank 4: _ATK 2500_ /DEF 2100). In one hand, _Deltatheros_ clutched the scintillating hoops of _Vega_ , _Deneb_ , and _Altair_ , now flattened into a shield that shone with golden brilliance; in the other was a sword of many edges, both straight and curved alike. This the Xyz Monster brandished at Seika, point first—and the intent to destroy was evident in _Deltatheros'_ steely gaze.

Masumi didn't bother to hide her grin anymore. Knowing Fuyu had it in him to bring out an Xyz Monster—his _ace_ monster, no less—on the very first turn of this Duel was a sign of just how seriously he was taking it … just how much he wanted to pay Seika back with interest for the injuries he and his father had suffered the day before.

And he still had cards in his hand as well, she realized—if he wanted to, Fuyu didn't have to stop there.

Sure enough: "Next, I activate the Equip Spell: _Stellarknight Factor_ , and equip it to my _Deltatheros_!" Fuyu shouted, slapping another card onto his blade. "This lets my monster gain another 500 ATK and DEF—and on top of that, it can't be affected by any of your card effects, Seika!"

By now, _Deltatheros_ was glowing so brightly as to become a second sun; the gauge that showed its strength increasing to an awesome **_3000/2600_** was almost impossible to look at for too long because of the light. But Masumi didn't care—as far as she was concerned, Fuyu had exceeded all her expectations just by Summoning such a strong monster.

"I Set one card, and end my turn," finished Fuyu, as a giant face-down card materialized before him, before fading away just as quickly. "You're lucky I took the first turn, Seika," he now called out to the virus opposite him. "I'm going to make sure you _pay_ for what you did to me and my father!"

Masumi could hear the anger in Fuyu's raspy voice. She could see it in the scars that lined his face, and she knew instinctively that the Xyz user wanted to use _Deltatheros_ to follow through on his threat. It was a far cry from the small, scared, shivering boy she'd met a month ago—Seika's crimes had changed more than just his face; that much was now clear.

"Ah … your father," Seika was saying just then. "The owner of that planetarium, I assume? I understand it has its own Solid Vision generator as well." A pause. "Do you think he knew what might happen if something were able to _exploit_ it? To utilize its wondrous technology in ways no _human_ could even begin to conceive?"

"We're human enough to know what you're implying, Seika!" Yaiba shot back. "And we're human enough to know that we'd never use Solid Vision to kill innocent people or wage war!"

"You are human enough," Seika said coolly, "to think that _murder_ and _war_ are all I am trying to accomplish here." Its blue eyes flashed dangerously. "And that makes you— _all of you_ —blind to the bigger picture."

 _Huh?!_ Before Masumi could feel appropriately confused by this statement, Seika had acted. Its cloak seemed to flutter more violently for a moment; one moment after that, a card had materialized in its Solid Vision grip.

"My turn!" growled the virus. "During my Standby Phase, I can activate the effect of my Field Spell, _Flood of Purgatory_ , and Special Summon an _Infernoid Token_ to my field!" Scarcely had his words finished echoing in their ears when a familiar vacuum-tube shape emerged onto his field (Level 1: _ATK 0_ /DEF 0), its metallic surface glinting a dull gray against the light of _Deltatheros_ and the fires that surrounded both monsters.

"You are already aware of how my _Infernoid_ monsters may be Summoned, yes?" Seika queried. "And that my _Flood of Purgatory_ may alter their Summoning procedures to banish monsters from my field as well?"

Masumi didn't trust herself to speak—or even to nod. She suspected Seika was planning something devious, otherwise it wouldn't have raised the question in the first place.

"I take your silence to mean you actually _learned_ something from your previous Duel," Seika snorted. "Very well, then. I banish the _Token_ on my field to Summon _this_ in Attack Position! **Descend!** ** _Infernoid Astaroth!_** "

As the _Token_ vanished from existence with scarcely a sound, the blue flames that continued to rage around the LID flared suddenly, as if disturbed by a gust of wind. Moments later, the source of that disturbance now emerged from the flames with a horrible, grating shriek: a hulking hybrid of machine and winged demon, clad in brown armor and crackling with blue energy that surged from the four tubes built into its legs (Level 4: _ATK 1800_ /DEF 0).

"I activate my _Astaroth's_ effect!" rumbled the virus. "Once per turn, I can target 1 Spell or Trap Card on the field, and destroy it!"

Masumi's eyes whirled on Fuyu. The Xyz Duelist had suddenly lost a lot of his unexpected aggression; he, too, must have realized precisely which card Seika intended to destroy.

True to their suspicions: "I target your _Stellarknight Factor_!" Seika's cloak billowed as _Astaroth_ threw its head back, promptly expelling a blast of blue fire from its fanged mouth. Before anyone could blink, that fire had hit _Deltatheros_ right in the chest—not enough to destroy the monster itself, but merely weaken it to its original **2500/2100**. Fuyu was seen to grimace as he slipped the destroyed _Factor_ into his Graveyard.

But Masumi knew all hadn't been lost just yet. "It's still not enough," Fuyu managed to hiss at Seika. "That monster of yours is too weak to destroy mine by itself!"

"Then we are in agreement," Seika purred. "I now banish my _Astaroth_ to Summon another _Infernoid_ monster—this time in _Defense_ Position! **Descend!** ** _Infernoid Beelzebul_** **!** "

It was _Astaroth's_ turn to whirl and shimmer away from view, dispelling the flames of Seika's Field Spell briefly enough to reveal a second monster of metal and evil intent. This one was smaller than its precursor, but no less terrifying for it—Masumi could only describe it as a car-sized, many-limbed dragon of black metal carrying two vacuum tubes on its back; these glowed with enough bone-white light that they could easily be mistaken for the compound eyes of some monstrous insect (Level 2: ATK 0/ _DEF 2000_ ).

"I now activate my _Beelzebul's_ effect," the virus hissed at them. "Once per turn, I can target 1 face-up card on the field, and return it to the hand! And there is only one other face-up card on the field … isn't there?"

 _Damn it!_ Masumi, having realized what was about to happen, swiped the air with a fist as the iridescent wings of _Beelzebul_ began to flap, faster and faster until they were little more than a multicolored blur. Gusts of wind now screamed outwards, rushing straight for Fuyu's monster—and though they did not destroy it, the blowback from the gale pushed the radiant warrior closer and closer to the wall of flames that encircled them—

Then _Deltatheros_ crossed the threshold, and those flames blazed—for only a moment—a bright, poisonous blue. There was only a shadow, then a few shreds—and when the fires finally died down, there was no sign whatsoever of the Xyz Monster. _Beelzebul's_ hideous mouth seemed to twitch in a smirk once the deed had been done.

Fuyu had seen every second of this, and had now regressed to his old, forlorn self as he scooped up _Deltatheros'_ card—Overlay Units and all. "B-because I Special Summoned it from the Extra Deck," he was barely heard to stammer, "m-my _Deltatheros_ will return there instead."

But that was no improvement to a serious blow, Masumi knew. _Deltatheros_ might have escaped destruction—but its three Overlay Units had not; they'd been sent to the Graveyard the moment their parent monster had left the field. Worse still, _Deltatheros'_ final effect could only trigger when it was sent to the Graveyard, too—meaning the Xyz Duelist had essentially Summoned his ace monster for nothing.

She swore under her breath again. Seika had used a mere _two cards_ to counter Fuyu's entire turn, with an efficiency she'd never believed possible—even from a supercomputer under the sway of a virus— _and_ give itself a defensive wall in the process, she added to herself, staring down the 2000 DEF _Beelzebul_ with hatred.

 _This is going to be tricky_.

"I now activate the Continuous Spell: _Sublimation of Purgatory_ ," cried Seika just then, "and activate its effect! Once per turn, I can discard 1 card, and add another _Purgatory_ Spell or Trap Card from my Deck to my hand!"

As it did so, three more cards appeared out of thin air before the virus, car-sized and face-down. "I Set three cards, and end my turn."

Masumi bit her lip. _Seika's trying to build up its back row again. At least we have a way to slow him down_ , she thought, with a furtive look at Shen. _And depending on how he's able to bring it out, we might even be able to eliminate any threat his Spells and Traps could pose to us_.

"It is my turn, then," said the Synchro user evenly. He took a long, slow breath— _perhaps to steady himself for the turn ahead_ , Masumi wondered, _or to control his own animosity for how Seika had murdered his sifu?_ —and placed a tanned hand on his Duel Disk. " _Draw_."

That hand now flashed outward with all the speed of a whip—instantly, like so many other times before it, Masumi felt a prickling up her spine at the insane speed and reflexes that Shen possessed.

"First," Shen spoke, enunciating each syllable with his crisp Chinese accent, "I will activate the Continuous Spell Card: _Leyline of Dracomet_. Then," he added, placing the card he'd just drawn into his snow-white Duel Disk, "I will Normal Summon the Tuner monster _Jiaotu, Dracomet of Darkness_ in Attack Position."

The air shimmered and darkened around him just then, turning a grayish indigo color that rapidly thickened into a dense fog—and just as quickly solidified into a burly, translucent dragon that plodded silently onto the field, directly in front of its Summoner (Level 2: _ATK 0_ /DEF 2000).

"Since I control no other monsters, I may activate the effect of my _Jiaotu_ ," the Synchro user went on. "Once per turn, I may send 2 _Dracomet_ cards from my hand to the Graveyard so as to Special Summon 2 _Dracomet_ monsters from my Deck—one with 0 ATK, and another with 0 DEF—although they will be banished during the End Phase."

He plucked a pair of cards from his hand, slipping them into his Graveyard. "I will therefore send my _Bixi, Dracomet of Water_ and my _Bi'an, Dracomet of Earth_ —so that I may Special Summon _Pulao, Dracomet of Wind_ and _Taotie, Dracomet of Evil_ , both in Attack Position!"

Two more cards were extracted from his Deck, and placed upon his Duel Disk's burnt-orange blade. Meanwhile, to either side of Shen's _Jiaotu_ , two more see-through dragons had materialized onto the field: one, a green-skinned, serpentine beast with massive horns (Level 1: _ATK 0_ /DEF 1800); the other, a muscular brute of a monster, with blood-red tattoos on its gray skin and vicious white fangs in its mouth (Level 5: _ATK 2200_ /DEF 0).

Masumi took note of Shen's three monsters now, and felt hope rise in her again as she saw their Levels. _He's got it!_

Apparently, Seika knew what was about to happen as well. "Double Continuous Trap, activate!" the virus cried out. " _Awakening Purgatory_ and _Rising Purgatory_!"

But Masumi, from her previous Duel against Seika, knew those two cards well enough to know that they wouldn't do the entity any good now. Their effects could only be activated during the _Standby_ Phase—and Shen was already well into his _Main_ Phase as this point. _It's just stalling for time_.

"Shen!" Fuyu's rasp was almost unheard in the noise created by Seika's Field. "It's started a Chain! Keep it going—activate my face-down while you still can!"

The Synchro user blinked owlishly—in itself a remarkable sight from the normally stoic boy. So did Masumi; she'd forgotten Fuyu still had a Set card to his name!

"It's a Tag Duel," the Xyz Duelist went on. "Everyone on a team can share a field and Graveyard, but _only the turn player_ of that team can activate or attack with whatever cards are already there. That's _you_ —so do it, quick!"

That seemed to bring Shen back to reality. He checked his Duel Disk, tilted his head quizzically at whatever he was seeing on the screen—and threw out his hand a moment later. "I will activate the Continuous Trap: _Celestial Aura_!"

Fuyu's Set card flickered to life—and was it Masumi's imagination, or was the Xyz Duelist _smirking_?!

"Once per turn, during my— _our_ —Main Phase, or our opponent's Battle Phase," Fuyu spoke, "I can Special Summon a _tellarknight_ monster from my hand! So I'll Special Summon _Satellarknight Sham_ in Attack Position!"

He slapped the monster in question on his blade with enough force that Masumi saw him wince a moment later. But that moment was all she had to see the brief moment of vulnerability from Fuyu; soon after, another humanoid figure had taken its place to the right of Shen's three _Dracomets_ : a winged archer of roughly Fuyu's age and height, with a golden arrow already nocked upon its bow (Level 4: _ATK 1400_ /DEF 1800).

"Once per turn, when _Sham_ is Summoned," Fuyu went on, "its effect can inflict 1000 damage to my opponent! That's what you _get_ ," he cried out at Seika, as Masumi pumped a fist in joy, "for _messing with my family_!"

On the last word, _Sham_ let fly with his arrow; the missile streaked through the air, straight and true—before burying itself dead center through Seika's cloaked chest. The virus let out a mechanical noise somewhere between grating gears and hissing steam; it took Masumi a moment to realize that this must be Seika's version of _pain_.

She didn't care how odd it was that Seika, a Solid Vision entity, could feel pain in the first place—especially from something that was _also_ Solid Vision as well. All that the Fusion Duelist cared about right now was the result of it all: that Seika—for the first time, as its Life Points now tumbled to 3000—could feel something resembling the same pain it had caused them last night … a taste of its own medicine.

 _How does it feel, you bastard?!_

"I have yet to conclude my turn," Shen spoke out just then. "My _Leyline of Dracomet_ gains effects according to the number of _Dracomet_ monsters in my Graveyard that each possess different Attributes. If there are two such monsters in my Graveyard, then all _Dracomet_ monsters I control will gain 500 ATK."

 _Pulao_ and _Taotie_ stood up a little straighter now. Their poses had become more aggressive, and with good reason; both their point gauges had risen to **_500_** and **_2700_** , respectively. _Taotie_ in particular looked absolutely ferocious as wisps of dark fire began to spill from its nostrils and jaws.

"Now," Shen rumbled, "I will now Tune my Level 2 _Jiaotu_ with my Level 1 _Pulao_ , and my Level 5 _Taotie_!"

 _All right!_ Masumi could already see the culmination of Shen's strategy in her mind. She knew what he was getting ready to Summon—she knew how devastating its effect could be to this field. Perhaps it wouldn't be as physically strong as it might be under normal circumstances—but even a _normal_ Tag Duel was far from a normal circumstance. And even after Shen's monster was Summoned, there would still be one other monster on their field—Fuyu's _Satellarknight Sham_.

The Fusion Duelist felt a sudden feeling of trepidation bubble inside her as she did some mental arithmetic; slowly but surely, that rock inside her head was beginning to look more and more like the polished gemstone of a properly executed plan. With the effect damage _Sham_ had already inflicted to Seika, _Sham's_ own ATK strength, the other effects of _Leyline_ Shen would soon have at his disposal, and the strength of the monster he was about to Summon …

 _I don't believe it!_ Masumi thought. _We can win this turn—and there won't be a damned thing Seika can do about it!_

It was hard to resist breaking out into an even bigger smile than before as she watched all three of Shen's _Dracomet_ monsters begin to glow with a bright green light—and Shen himself bend his knees and clap his palms together as if in prayer.

Only a few moments after that, _Taotie_ suddenly disintegrated into thin air—only to just as quickly reform into five beads of white light, then _Pulao_ into a sixth. _Jiaotu_ , still radiating energy, soared into the air along with them, swirling quicker and quicker around them both until it looked like nothing more than a ring of green light:

 **"** **Shining phantom of light,"** chanted Shen. **"Unleash your true power, and give birth to a radiance that consumes all in its path!"**

Then, suddenly, that ring now split along its middle, creating a pair of identical green halos around the six points of light. Lightning flashed, striking the center of the Dueling field—and it was at that moment that Shen _leapt_ into the air, his superhuman physique launching him higher than any trampoline in _Gravity Sixteen_ could hope to achieve:

 **"** **Synchro Summon!"**

Masumi could barely see the Synchro Duelist amidst all the lightning and fire that raged above her. But even as she gazed in awe at the scene, there was something else—something far bigger, and growing bigger still—that was swirling in the air beyond: the silhouette of a house-sized dragon that she had only seen twice before in her life—

 **"** **Descend from the stars!"** Shen roared. **"Level 8!** ** _Gongfu, Dracomet of Brightness_** **!"**

The Synchro Monster broke through the fiery firmament with a tremendous roar (Level 8: _ATK 2300_ /DEF 2600). Wisps of cerulean flames still clung to _Gongfu's_ golden scales and flowing brown mane, as if in a futile effort to save Seika and its Field from the devastation it was about to wreak.

Masumi watched the dragon's descent with her heart in her mouth—but something wasn't right: for some reason, _Gongfu_ was twisting and turning in its flight—and barely slowing down in the slightest. At first, the Fusion user wondered if the monster was trying too hard to shake off the flames that still lapped at its translucent body. But the longer she watched, the more she was sure those tongues of fire seemed to be _growing_ —

Shen's ace monster roared again—and this time, Masumi was sure something was _very_ wrong. The noise it made was not one of triumph … but of excruciating pain. Was it some hidden effect of Seika's field—one that the virus had deliberately withheld from the LID, until the last possible moment—?

 _CRASH_.

Masumi felt her legs give way, and her body tumble head over heels onto the asphalt as _Gongfu_ plowed right through the street. The earth rattled, sending the rest of the LID off balance save for Shen, who had landed in a three-point stance right where he'd jumped, though the tremors his monster's impact had caused made that landing more awkward for him than it might have otherwise. The Synchro user wobbled briefly as he got to his feet, looking almost stricken at the sight of his dragon—a remarkable sight for someone so stoic, Masumi thought.

 _Gongfu's_ crash-landing had created a massive crater in the road—though a faint sizzle at the edges of the hole, and the lack of any water or sewer mains that far down, told the Fusion user this was merely an illusion of Solid Vision. Indeed, even as she stared wild-eyed at the scene below, the road seemed to be reforming itself—no, Masumi hastily corrected herself, the hole was being filled back up with earth and more blue fire, like the speeded-up progress of a healing scar. Gongfu continued to twist and writhe against the crushing rocks and burning flames, but to no avail—it was being buried alive before the LID's very eyes—

" … What the _heck_ is going on here?!" Hotene, her eyes bugged to the size and roundness of her wide-open mouth, had recovered enough to voice the same question dominating the minds of each and every member of the LID.

"Trap, activated: _Pitfall of Purgatory_."

Everyone spun in the direction of Seika.

Even through the black cloak and blacker shadows that concealed whatever digitized face it wore beneath, Seika was clearly smirking at the horrified faces of its opponents. It felt as ice-cold as the fires around it felt boiling hot—and Masumi could not decide which scared her more.

"Whenever my opponent would Special Summon at least one monster with 2000 or more ATK," the virus sneered, "I can negate the effects of one of those Summoned monsters—and then destroy it!"

Masumi felt as though her heart had sunk right into the crater _Gongfu_ had left behind. _Negate … and destroy?!_

"I don't believe this … " Yaiba looked lost.

"No … " Fuyu was shaking his head in disbelief, as if that would prove his eyes wrong.

As if to emphasize the LID's shock, the Synchro Monster uttered one last shriek of helpless pain before soil and fire swallowed it up completely—suffocating the dragon, and silencing it permanently. Chunks of the shattered asphalt resurfaced in the road, as if regurgitated by the moving earth, leaving behind no trace whatsoever of Shen's ace monster, save for a web of cracks in the street.

"Are you _really_ the best Duelists that the Leo Duel School has to offer?" Seika scoffed. "I was anticipating more of a challenge from you, after last night—but _this_?!" It made another electronic snort. "I couldn't laugh at your efforts even _if_ I had the subroutines to do so. That was just _pitiful_." It emphasized the last word with deadly finality.

Masumi couldn't help but think the virus had a point. With a mere handful of cards, Seika had wholly annihilated her best strategy. The LID's most likely hope at clearing a path to victory had rested with Shen and his monster.

They'd failed—and that failure, the Fusion Duelist knew, might have just killed them all …

* * *

 **A/N: It's come to my attention that some of the translations for the original Japanese cards on the Yu-Gi-Oh! and Yugipedia wikis have changed since the last time I used them. I'll do my best to look through my stories when I have a free moment, and update them accordingly so as to prevent the possibility of any confusion.**

 **Anyhow—I'm very surprised I was able to release this so soon. I credit a free weekend—and a house to myself for most of said weekend—for being able to finish this up in anything resembling a timely fashion.**

 **I'll do my best to keep that timely fashion going for the next chapter. Most of it will be the continuing Duel, which has been planned out in its entirety—although I have enough on my plate at present that I don't want to make any promises that may end up broken.**

 **Until then, thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoy! – K**


	10. X

X

 _Leo Duel School_

 _3:35 P.M._

"Himika- _san_?"

The chairwoman of LDS didn't immediately hear her name being called. Her fingers continued to fly over the keyboard with an alacrity Himika hardly ever knew she'd possessed. Such was the urgency of the moment—and, she suspected, the intensity of the coffee she'd had an intern fetch for her a few minutes ago.

"Himika- _san_?"

"What?!" The question came out rather more snappishly than she'd intended. She hastily cleared her throat.

The receptionist hardly sounded the slightest bit abashed. "Sorry to bother you, but I have a gentleman on the phone who's asking to speak to you," she replied. "He says he is the residence manager in charge of the housing complex where J.D. Crowley lived, and that he has information regarding the woman who was listed as his roommate."

So absorbed was Himika in her work that this new development registered as only the slightest of speed bumps in her train of thought. "Tell him I'm in a meeting—an urgent one," she said shortly, pausing briefly to adjust the phone she'd cradled in between her right ear and shoulder. "Give him my office email; whatever he has to tell me, he can send it through there."

"Yes, ma'am." The line clicked, and went dead.

Himika now turned her attention to the mobile she'd perched on her other shoulder. "All right, Shirai," she sighed, glancing back at her computer screen. "I've gained access to all of the code listings for Project #1610217."

"Good." There was a faint noise from the other end of the line; it sounded as though Shirai was wiping off his sweaty brow. "With Seika currently active, we should be able to find every single line of code it's managed to introduce into Q's systems, and devise a countervirus to keep it from killing any more people."

"We couldn't have done this earlier?" Himika asked testily. " _Before_ any more people had died in the first place?"

"Viruses can be coded to wipe their tracks," answered Shirai. "Once they've done whatever their programmer designed them to do, they can execute a kill command that not only removes the viral sequences from the victim's coding, but any lines of code that refer to any aspect of said virus as well. Makes it harder to track down and fight."

A pause. "The risk of further casualties was a calculated one, Himika- _san_. What matters is that have Seika trapped now. The moment it revealed itself to the LID, it gave us the chance we needed to break into its programming; from there, forcing it into a Duel with them will keep it from erasing the same code that allows it to function. So it's up to us to ensure from there that the dozens it's already killed don't turn into hundreds or even thousands."

Himika could hear the heaviness in Shirai's voice, and knew this was weighing on him just as much as it was her. _To save a family, abandon a man_ , she thought, remembering the old quote; _to save the village, abandon a family._

It had been decades since she'd last had to learn the _Mahabharata_ in school; this one passage had been one of the few from those days that had been stuck in her mind since. Sacrifices, she had come to understand, were not only necessary, but _required_ of every human that had ever drawn breath on this earth—and the higher your standing, the more demanding those sacrifices would become. It was easy to guess why it had returned to her now, in a time all too appropriate for the choices Himika had had to make over the past twenty-four hours and change.

Yet Himika knew the quote did not stop there. _To save the country, abandon a village_ , she continued to think; _to save the soul … abandon the earth_. She knew this last all too well—for there was a soul, somewhere _out there_ , that she held to be far more precious than any material wealth her position had ever given her. There was a soul that she knew, in her heart, _everything_ hinged on. But as much as Himika wished that soul to be saved from a terrible fate—as much of her wealth and standing as she would sacrifice to make that wish come true—she knew that to do so would damn the world as she knew it, and all the other worlds she knew to exist would be damned with it.

For Akaba Himika knew better than anyone else in all of Japan— _almost_ anyone else—of the war the Lancers were fighting out there, and she knew that no matter how it ended, the world would never be the same for it. None of its wounds would ever be fully healed; indeed, there were some that, unfortunately, could not even be _allowed_ to heal, or else the world would never learn from its mistakes, and thus risk repeating history all over again.

So she would continue to _sacrifice_ —as often as she could, to ensure that such horrors would never become a reality.

Returning from her reverie, Himika put in a few more keystrokes, and watched line upon line of coding spill over her computer screen once again. "All right—I'm in," she said to Shirai.

"Good. From here, we can search the listings for any bit of code you need to find—viral or otherwise. However, I should tell you now, Himika- _san_ —"

"Yes?"

"You're not using Google here—you can't just type in any random thing and expect an auto-correct function to fix your mistakes. You have to know _precisely_ what you want to search for—down to the way it's spelled, and even punctuated. Otherwise, this is going to take a lot longer.

Himika remembered the lines of code those technicians, Tanaka and Sakamura, had showed the LID earlier that day. "Well," she thought, stretching out her fingers for what looked to be another marathon of typing, "I can think of a few things to speed things up … "

She set her jaw, and typed into the search bar: _seika•exe_.

"One moment—Nakajima," Shirai said just then, before she could commence her search. There was a brief judder of noise from her mobile's speaker.

Then: "Himika- _san_ , I've been advised of an update regarding the LID's engagement of Seika."

The chairwoman could hear the worry in her aide's voice. "How much time do we have?"

There was a pause. "Not enough."

* * *

Masumi kept on staring at the patch of cracked road where _Gongfu_ had been swallowed, as if some part of her was hoping those events had just been some horrible hallucination, and that the Synchro Monster would burst out of its prison as easily as bursting a soap bubble.

The Fusion user had been on the business end of Shen's ace monster before; experience from that Duel had been a large part in her strategy today. She had been counting on Shen Summoning _Gongfu_ to activate its effect the moment it hit the field, returning as many of Seika's precious field as possible back into its Deck—the more _Dracomet_ monsters that went into its Summon, the more cards it could affect.

Yet Seika had planned for this, somehow—no doubt the virus, with how thoroughly it had compromised Q, had been having a peek at all five of their Decks in the process. It now knew each and every one of the cards they used, and pieced together the strategies that used them, as if each was its very own.

"I am to blame for that," Shen conceded, "but I take comfort in knowing my efforts were not _entirely_ in vain. Look there." He gestured to the hulking form of _Infernoid Beelzebul_ , its many arms and gleaming claws extended outwards in an attack stance, ready to shred whatever it touched—

Masumi frowned. _An attack stance? I thought_ Beelzebul _had been Summoned in_ Defense _Position_ , she thought wildly; yet here it was in _Attack_ Position—and a single look at the field, reproduced on the screen of her Duel Disk, confirmed it. But how was this possible? Seika couldn't change its monsters' battle position without a card effect!

Then it hit her. Seika hadn't changed anything at all—or more accurately, it hadn't _been_ the one to change anything.

"My _Leyline of Dracomet_ ," Shen declared, "gains an additional effect while there are no less than four _Dracomet_ monsters in my Graveyard with different Attributes! This effect will not only switch every monster my opponent controls into Attack Position—but will also prevent them from Setting monsters as well!

"I do this for my brothers—whom you needlessly slaughtered before my eyes like so many sheep!" the Synchro Duelist barked. "Battle Phase! _Satellarknight Sham_ —attack _Infernoid Beelzebul_!"

Masumi cocked a fist in relief—Shen had somehow managed to snatch a victory, however minor it might be, from what she'd thought would be utter defeat. The cunning action was enough to make her wonder if filling his Graveyard with enough _Dracomets_ to utilize his _Leyline_ had been part of the plan all along.

 _Sham_ , meanwhile, had nocked another golden arrow onto his bow, sighting down its length straight for _Beelzebul_. It fired, and the missile flew straight and true—passing through the demon's armored neck dead center, causing it to vaporize into a million photonic shards—and continued on to Seika without even slowing down. Again the virus howled in apparent pain as the arrow pierced its body, making its Life Points tumble further still to 1600.

"Next," Shen continued, placing another card on his Duel Disk, "I will activate the Spell Card: _Path of Dracomet_. I use this to target three _Dracomet_ monsters in my Graveyard, shuffle them into my Deck, and then draw two cards."

He did so. Masumi thought she could see something flicker across Shen's face that looked remarkably like irritation. But it passed, and the Synchro user added, "Furthermore, since one of the monsters I shuffled was the _Gongfu_ you destroyed"—he glared defiantly at Seika—"it will return to my Extra Deck instead."

Then Shen exhaled, standing up straight. "I will end my turn with that."

The Fusion Duelist did not sound altogether reassured by Shen's tone. The only reason he would have robbed himself of his own Graveyard advantage, as he had done with _Path_ , would have been in the hopes of getting one more monster in his hand, or one last card to Set, so as to rebuild the field he'd lost this turn. It seemed that neither of the cards Shen had drawn would allow him this advantage.

Nevertheless, Masumi also knew things were looking better than they could have been; Seika, despite the setbacks it had caused, had now lost more than half of its Life Points before they'd even gotten halfway down their fighting force. After the virus, Hotene would be up next—and her strategies, Masumi knew, were always something to see.

"My turn." Seika barely seemed to move as another card materialized in its grip. "During my Standby Phase, I can activate the effect of _Flood of Purgatory_ , and Special Summon an _Infernoid Token_ to my field." Moments later, that was exactly what it did—and presently, another bulb-like construction materialized between them (Level 1: _ATK 0_ /DEF 0).

"Next, I activate both of my Continuous Traps," Seika went on. "First, my _Awakening Purgatory_ will send two _Infernoid_ monsters from my Deck to the Graveyard during each of my Standby Phases. Then, my _Rising Purgatory_ lets me target 1 of my banished _Infernoid_ monsters, and return it back to my Graveyard."

Masumi bit her lip as cards flitted hither and thither before Seika, materializing right in front of him, or flashing into more blue flame just as quickly. This was exactly the sort of playing style she'd been hoping to avoid—the same strategy she'd been hoping _Gongfu_ could have disrupted.

"Now, I activate my _Sublimation of Purgatory_ ," continued the virus, "and discard a card to add another _Purgatory_ Spell or Trap Card to my hand." Several cards after that: "I now banish the _Infernoid Token_ on my field—and the _Infernoid Satan_ I sent to my Graveyard to activate my _Sublimation_ —to Special Summon _this_ from my Graveyard!"

Fires leaped up before Seika as Masumi recalled the complex Summoning procedure of the _Infernoids_ —how only the higher-Leveled creatures among them could be Summoned from the Graveyard. Inwardly, she braced herself.

 **"** **Descend!"** growled Seika. **"** ** _Infernoid Asmodai!_** **"**

Masumi saw only a large shadow above her, silhouetted in the flames before and behind Seika—before a tremendous _THUD_ shook the earth. The impact dispelled the inferno just enough to reveal the biggest creature Seika had yet Summoned this Duel: a construction of gold, bronze, and gunmetal gray that towered over the LID, almost inch for inch the height of the apartment building where Crowley had lived (Level 5: _ATK 2200_ /DEF 0).

The long, thin staff in _Asmodai's_ claws swung through the air with an ominous hiss, aiming straight at the LID as its owner let loose a menacing growl. Masumi gulped at the silent threat.

"Battle Phase." Seika's own growl was eerily similar in tone to that of the monster it had Summoned. " _Infernoid Asmodai_ —attack _Satellarknight Sham_!"

 _Asmodai_ hefted its staff, raising its bladed tip into the air. Such was the monster's height, and the size of its weapon, that the edges actually scraped the flaming ceiling of Seika's Field Spell. Wisps of blue flame tumbled from their seat on high, where they came to rest on _Asmodai's_ staff, wrapping it in yet more fire.

Then the _Infernoid_ —with a quickness that belied its bulk—lashed out with that staff at Sham, fatally striking the monster right on its skull. There was an explosion of bright blue, a rush of flame—and the _tellarknight_ was simply _gone_. But the explosion that had vaporized it yet remained, enveloping the LID in superhot flames.

Masumi and Yaiba—being the furthest from the detonation—were seared, but unhurt. Hotene was closer, which left her curly hair faintly singed at the tips, and her eyes wide as coins from the near miss. Fuyu and Shen, though, had been mere feet behind _Sham_ and its violent demise; the Fusion user could not help but cringe as she saw both boys fall backwards from the force of the blast. Even the sight of the LID's collective Life Points falling to a still-decent 3200—twice as much as Seika's own total—did little to sooth matters.

Especially since Seika wasn't done taking its turn. " _Infernoid Asmodai's_ effect," the virus had announced, before _Sham_ had even faded from view. "If it inflicted battle damage this turn by attacking an opponent's monster, I can discard 1 random card from my opponent's hand." A pause. " _Any_ opponent's hand," it added with a smirk.

Any _of our hands?!_ Masumi glanced at the cards in her own hand, and felt the tension in her body augment another notch. While her favored card was not one of them, there was enough for her to provide a killing blow—if Hotene and Yaiba didn't finish Seika off first. But if the virus were to get rid of even one of these …

 _Asmodai_ , however, seemed to have a mind of its own. Even as Masumi dithered where she stood, its bladed staff had flared with fire a third time, slicing outward like a whiplash—straight for Shen's hand. There was a _CRACK_ , and the Synchro user stumbled backward; the lash of flames had nipped his hand hard enough that he'd lost his grip on the cards he was holding. One of them now tumbled to the cracked road; Masumi saw it long enough to recognize it as his _Suanni, Dracomet of Fire_ —before flames consumed it in the time it took to blink.

Fortunately, even as she felt her heart leap into her mouth, Masumi remembered these flames were of mere Solid Vision—hardly even hot to the touch, let alone capable of burning cards—as seen when Shen picked up his discarded monster, shook it in his hand to rid it of flames, and slid it into his Graveyard with a frown.

Seika watched the scene with detached satisfaction. "I Set one card," it finished, floating a card into its massive Duel Disk, "and end my turn with that."

"Awesome!"

Masumi hadn't been looking at Hotene when she'd shouted out the single word, and so hadn't caught the look on the tiny Duelist's face until just now.

Usually, LDS' ace student of the Junior Fusion circuit was known for being a very flighty and impulsive girl. Being nine years old and change—almost a full year under the usual entrance age for the Leo Duel School—was a big reason for that; Hotene, child prodigy though she was, much preferred to spend her day bouncing around in the diabolically entertaining _Gravity Sixteen_ , besting as many Duelists as she could in her favorite Action Field, in her favorite place to expend her considerable, youthful energy.

Sometimes, however, Masumi would see a change in her childish behavior. It was almost as though Hotene became a different person when she had something to prove, whether big or small. The Fusion user had seen it once before in their first encounter, when Hotene had pressured Masumi into Dueling together in the hopes of being the best Fusion Duelist outright in LDS. She'd seen it again later that night, in a nightmare she'd done her best to forget.

But now that change had come over Hotene once more as she'd drawn her card: her wide, sparkling grin had sharpened itself into the leer of a shark streaking for the kill. Masumi—though she knew Hotene still needed as much work on her poker face as the day they'd first met—saw the gleam in both teeth and eyes, and felt inwardly grateful that they were both fighting on the same side today.

"I activate the second effect of my _Rising Purgatory_!" Seika cut in just then. "During my opponent's Standby Phase, I can target an _Infernoid_ monster in my Graveyard, and return it to my hand!" Scarcely had it spoke when a card floated out from a slot in its Duel Disk, to hover just above its giant metal blade.

"Blah, blah, blah!" Hotene shot back derisively. "Doncha know it's rude to interrupt a girl when she's talking?"

She didn't bother to wait for an answer. "I activate the Quick-Play Spell: _Spirit Beast's Promised Return_! I can use this card to banish a _Spirit Beast_ monster from my hand—an' then," she added, slipping a card out from her hand, "I can Special Summon a _Spirit Beast_ monster that's either banished or in my Graveyard!"

 _Including the one she banished to pay the card's cost_ , Masumi realized as Hotene declared, "So I'm gonna Special Summon my _Spirit Beast Tamer Rera_ in Defense Position!" A teenaged, fiery-haired girl in a green cloak and dress shimmered onto the field just then, clutching a carved wooden staff at its feet as it knelt in front of her Summoner (Level 1: ATK 100/ _DEF 2000_ ).

"An' then," Hotene went on, "I'll Normal Summon my _Noble Spirit Beast Apelio_ in Attack Position!" Something leapt out of the fires that surrounded them: a bearlike creature of dark red fur and flaming mane, growling ominously at Seika before settling down at _Rera's_ side like a faithful watchdog (Level 4: _ATK 1800_ /DEF 200).

Masumi felt a sudden surge of excitement inside her as _Rera_ began to chant under her breath, in a language perhaps known only to her. Instinctively, she had realized the sort of field Hotene was building up.

The tiny Duelist had seen her looking. "Now I'll activate my _Apelio's_ effect!" grinned the tiny Duelist, winking mischievously at her counterpart. "Once per turn, if I can banish a _Spirit Beast_ card from my Graveyard, every _Spirit Beast_ monster on my field gets an extra 500 ATK and DEF for the rest of the turn! So I'm gonna banish my _Promised Return_!"

 _Apelio_ roared, longer and louder than usual as the flames in its mane and tail began to crackle, with a fresh point gauge of **_2300_** **/700** blipping into view above it. A similarly fiery aura coursed over the still-chanting _Rera_ as well, as her own gauge crept upwards to **600/** ** _2500_**.

"An' now," Hotene cried, her shark's smile wider than ever, "I'm gonna banish my _Apelio_ an' my _Rera_ from my field—so that I can Special Summon _this_ from my Extra Deck! _Get ready!_ "

At last, _Rera_ got to her feet, her eyes shining with destructive intent as they stared down Seika. It reached out to _Apelio_ —who, like her, held out a paw in its companion's direction. All the while, it kept on growling, longer and louder than ever, refusing to tear its gaze from the virus:

 **"** **Now, when the bond between man and beast is at its strongest,"** Hotene was chanting, hands raised out at arm's length, **"the blazing inferno will be united with the burning hearts of our prime!"**

For an instant, the tips of _Rera's_ fingers were seen to barely graze the pads of _Apelio's_ paw. The blazing aura that had enveloped them continued to grow stronger, wrapping their whole bodies, consuming them—

And then a burst of light—too white to be from any fire—erupted in the middle of the Dueling field, forcing Masumi to cover her eyes even as she mentally cheered at what was happening—

 **"** **Contact Fusion!"** cried Hotene, clasping her palms together. **"Appear!** ** _Tamed Spirit Beast Apelio_** **!"**

A bellowing roar, loud enough to shake Masumi's bones, shook the entire street as Hotene's ace monster emerged onto the field: a ferocious, lion-like creature the size of her father's car, burning a hundred different shades of red and orange from teeth to tail-fur (Level 6: ATK 2600 » **3100** /DEF 400 » **900** ). _Rera_ , brandishing its staff aloft, rode astride the monster, holding on tight as if attempting to stay her mount from attacking here and now.

In that moment, Masumi forgot that they were likely Dueling for their lives; the sight of Hotene displaying her full range of talents was one that would never get old to her. For the practice of _Contact Fusion_ —a method of Fusion Summoning that used no Fusion effects whatsoever to bring their monsters out—was a rare one, even inside LDS. It was the reason she still stood unmatched in the Junior Fusion circuit—and had also been the reason she had been so sought after by Academia a month ago. They had attempted to claim her abilities for their own use—no doubt to cause more destruction than they already had—but Masumi and her friends had put paid to _that_ scheme for good.

"Battle Phase!" Hotene stabbed out at Seika with a stubby finger. " _Tamed Apelio_ , attack _Infernoid Asmodai_ —an' _make it hurt_!" she shrieked as _Apelio_ lunged forward with a mighty leap, clearly intent on doing just that.

It was the perfect monster for Hotene to Summon, Masumi knew; _Tamed Apelio_ could not be affected by any card effects whatsoever while it was attacking—though it was a shame that this had to include _Noble Apelio's_ own ATK boost as well, she noted as she watched _Tamed Apelio's_ gauge dip back to 2600. The Fusion user had learned the hard way that this shielding effect even extended to Action Cards, making it particularly formidable in those kinds of Duels; the bruise she'd absorbed after that had taken the better part of a week to disappear. To see Seika suffer as she had that Duel gave her no end of catharsis.

A resounding _BOOM_ , loud enough that Masumi instinctively cringed, filled her ears just then: _Apelio_ had bulled headlong into _Asmodai's_ chest, sending the demon horns over armor-plated tail onto the road. Another roar and a leap sent Hotene's monster crashing onto the _Infernoid's_ chest with all four of its flaming paws, caving the monster in and splintering it into hard-light shrapnel. Several particularly large pieces ripped through Seika, and though it caused no damage to the virus, Masumi still cheered as she watched its Life Point gauge dip further still to 1200.

Suddenly, winning this Duel didn't seem so unlikely now.

* * *

 _Leo Duel School_

 _3:45 P.M._

Himika pushed herself back from the computer, attempting to give her aching fingers another break. The screen was currently displaying an excerpt of her latest efforts at slogging through the code listings for Q:

Vg1 = GetHandl {tool•exe} tempCall {itm•temp}

Vg2 = GetHandl {assembler•exe} tempCall {itm•temp}

if Scale(Vg1, Vg2) set

› on \u00e6_lohim•obj call {qprot, qmass, svni•exe} set to on

› on \u00e6_lohim•obj tfer root ctrl {svni•exe}

› on \u00e6_lohim•obj call {termec} set to off

› on \u00e6_lohim•obj run \u00e6_lohim•exe

Her first search for _seika•exe_ had been less than successful; both lines that had matched her search had already been shown to her earlier today, courtesy of Tanaka and Sakamura. It had, however, served its purpose by giving her a few more parameters on which to attempt another search. One of them— _\u00e6_lohim•obj_ —had proved much more successful, and much more concerning as well; it told her just how thoroughly Seika had infiltrated Q.

As Shirai explained to her over the phone, the command would start by linking several of Q's primary functions together—its entire database of protocols, _qprot_ , as well as its ability to generate and manipulate hard light with mass, or _qmass_ —and then turning them on remotely. "No doubt in conjunction with _seika•exe_ ," he told her, "which we already know is designed to link our city's Solid Vision network with that other executable file— _svni•exe_.

"What worries me most is the line that follows that," Shirai went on. "If I'm reading it right, this command actually transfers the entire root control path to _svni•exe_. Whatever that file is, it's got complete control over Q right now. Worse still, that next command turns off the terminal echo function of whatever computer is running the program, which makes it harder to trace the location of that _svni_ file, or the source of the commands that concern it."

Himika's fingers were already flying over the keyboard. "Maybe we can find out what it is, then."

She typed in: _svni•exe_. A brief moment passed while the computer worked her request—until:

 **ERROR: Insufficient hardware to execute file.**

Before Himika could properly react to this, the window began to pixelate—and so, too, did the rest of her screen.

The chairwoman swore at the top of her voice as she realized what was happening, and stabbed the power button with her finger. The monitor went black not long after—but by the time it did, the distorted screen had already reformed into a single line of text that made Himika's blood boil in her veins:

ΩΩ **W** ΩΩ **E** ΩΩ **E** ΩΩ **P** ΩΩ **F** ΩΩ **O** ΩΩ **R** ΩΩ **Y** ΩΩ **O** ΩΩ **U** ΩΩ **R** ΩΩ **D** ΩΩ **E** ΩΩ **A** ΩΩ **D** ΩΩ

There was no one inside the room, which was unfortunate for Himika. She could feel her fingers trembling with rage as she picked up her phone.

"Nakajima." She spoke through teeth clenched so hard that her dentist would find nothing but powder come her next visit, if she wasn't careful. "I want Shirai in front of my desk _now_. Seika just tried to hack into my computer. I may have stopped it in time—but even a reboot is going to set us back." Meaning, she added in her head, that any hope of using the LID as a decoy to divert Seika's attention had likely fizzled before her eyes.

She didn't give her aide a chance to react to the grim news. "And Shirai—you had better be hearing this, because I will only make this offer _once_. If you want to continue your future with LeoCorp, you will help me to find the persons responsible for whoever infected Q—and you will help me to put their _goddamned heads on spikes_!"

The chairwoman hung up before either man had a chance to ask if she was being metaphorical.

* * *

Elsewhere, Seika was heard to chuckle to itself—though the LID, oblivious to what had happened in Himika's office, were too elated in how their Duel had been going so far that they didn't stop to care.

Hotene had surveyed _Asmodai's_ destruction at the hands of her _Apelio_ with a particularly wide smirk, before Setting a pair of cards to end her turn. "That's what you get for hurting my _friends_ , meanie!" she was shouting at Seika, as Apelio's point gauge returned to its usual **_2600_** **/400**. "An' you won't be laughing for long when Rika- _tan_ gets out of hospital—'cause she's gonna be so mad at you for tryin' to hurt me, too!"

"She should have known better than to get in my way," Seika rumbled back at her dismissively, materializing a fresh card out of thin air to begin its next turn. "Your friend's actions were meaningless—and _if_ she dies, her death will be just as meaningless as well. Is that something you're prepared to live with," it leered at the little girl, "for the rest of your life? To know that she died _for nothing_?"

Hotene looked stricken at the thought of losing her best friend. Her wide smile had vanished as quickly as a blown light bulb; the usual bounciness of her blonde hair was nowhere to be seen, and her blue eyes shone with tears.

"You're wrong … " she squeaked. "They told me Rika- _tan_ was all better … she'll be out of the hospital soon … "

"Back in her home in Maiami City, safe and sound," Seika finished for her. "Yes, yes, yes. But there's something you maybe haven't noticed by now: **_I AM Maiami City._** " It spoke the last four words with a malicious sneer that infuriated Masumi. "You, and everyone who lives here, are _mine_ now.

" _Flood of Purgatory's_ effect! During my Standby Phase, I Special Summon another _Infernoid Token_ to my field!" For the third time this Duel, another bulblike token materialized in front of the virus (Level 1: _ATK 0_ /DEF 0).

"Next, _Awakened Purgatory's_ effect! During my Standby Phase, I send two _Infernoid_ monsters from my Deck to the Graveyard!" A pair of cards floated out from Seika's Duel Disk, long enough for the LID to see them before they were slotted in a different section of the device.

"Now, my _Rising Purgatory's_ effect! During my Standby Phase, I target a banished _Infernoid_ monster, and return it to my Graveyard! I return my _Infernoid Satan_!" It did so. "And finally, my _Sublimation of Purgatory's_ effect—I discard a card, and add another _Purgatory_ Spell or Trap from my Deck to my hand!"

Only the tension that surrounded the circumstances of their current Duel kept Masumi from getting bored of all these constant effects being activated during Seika's Standby Phase all the time; instead, she settled for growing merely annoyed. While the loss of Shen's _Gongfu_ had been a major blow, the Fusion Duelist knew well that the longer they could stall for time, the more chance Himika had of finding a remedy for their predicament. Perhaps Seika's many Spells and Traps would, however inadvertently, prove to be a greater boon than any of their tactics could have achieved, and it was this thought that continued to assuage her mind as the Duel continued on.

"I now banish the _Infernoid Token_ on my field," Seika hissed, "and the _Infernoid Satan_ in my Graveyard to Special Summon another _Infernoid_ monster from my Graveyard by its own effect! **Descend!** ** _Infernoid Belphegor!_** "

Masumi took a step back as Seika's _Token_ vanished as quickly as it had appeared. She remembered this monster all too well; it had been half of the reason she'd lost to Seika in their first encounter. Already she could see its flat, horned head rearing up from the flames behind Seika, its bluish-gray armor glinting dully in the firelight as it plodded onto the field.

Metallic wings unfurled, and a blast of air dispelled the fire to reveal _Belphegor_ in full: an ugly, hulking demon that filled the street completely, taller and wider than _Asmodai_ even in its hunched-over stance (Level 6: _ATK 2400_ /DEF 0). The blades that tipped its segmented tail sliced through air and asphalt with equal impunity, leaving gashes in the road and shearing through several cars that had—fortunately—been abandoned since the start of the Duel.

"Since the Levels of the monsters on my field do not yet exceed 8," cried the virus, "I am still able to Special Summon _Infernoid_ monsters! Therefore—I banish both the _Infernoid Astaroth_ and the _Infernoid Beelzebul_ in my Graveyard, and Special Summon _this_ from my Graveyard as well! **Descend!** ** _Infernoid Ba'al!_** "

 _Another high-level_ Infernoid _?!_ Masumi could not help but shake where she stood. Seika was slowly but surely approaching the field it wanted: enough _Infernoids_ in its Graveyard to Special Summon the high-leveled monsters it used to beat them into the ground.

She remembered this monster, too, as it dropped from the sky like a meteor with a storm of wings, shaking the earth beneath it—knew all too well the draconic smirk it had worn when Seika had Summoned it in their first Duel. But the size of the monster still left her agog in shock: as tall as _Belphegor_ , but half as broad at the shoulder again, the tip of its own tail whipped about in the air, like a cat that was staring down a mouse (Level 7: _ATK 2600_ /DEF 0).

"Battle Phase!" bellowed Seika. " _Infernoid Ba'al_ —attack her _Tamed Apelio_!" _Ba'al_ charged forward with a horrible, shrieking battle cry, its slavering jaws ready to sink into the neck of Hotene's monster—

"Nuh- _uh_!" The tiny Duelist threw out her hand. " _Tamed Apelio's_ second effect! I can return it to the Extra Deck, then target a banished _Spirit Beast Tamer_ an' a banished _Noble Spirit Beast_ —an' Special Summon them both in Defense Position! So I'll bring back my _Spirit Beast Tamer Rera_ an' my _Noble Spirit Beast Apelio_! **Contact Out!** "

 _Rera_ leapt into the air, using her mount as an impromptu springboard, and performed a graceful backflip onto the field, landing in a three-point stance beside her loyal steed (Level 1: ATK 100/ _DEF 2000_ ). _Apelio_ itself seemed to shrink where it stood; the flames that had adorned its mane and fur had died down to a merry blaze rather than an inferno to rival the flames that continued to burn around it (Level 4: ATK 1800/ _DEF 200_ ).

"What are you doing?" Masumi wondered out loud. "You're just giving that thing two _weaker_ targets to attack!" She knew they wouldn't lose any Life Points over it, since both of Hotene's monsters were in Defense Position—yet the monster they'd combined into during the previous turn had been enough to best both of Seika's monsters.

 _So why—?_

" _Infernoid Ba'al_!" rumbled the virus. "Attack _Spirit Beast Tamer Rera_!"

But even as _Ba'al's_ mouth opened wide to devour the teenaged monster, Hotene was wagging her finger bossily. "You can't do tha-a-at!" she sang. "Trap, activate: _Combination with the Spirit Beast!_ If I control any number of _Spirit Beast_ monsters, I can destroy monsters on the field up to that number!"

Masumi felt like singing herself as her eyes took stock of just how many monsters Hotene controlled— _and_ how many Seika controlled. _She can wipe out its field with just that one card!_

The fiery aura that had subsumed _Rera_ and _Apelio_ once before now enveloped them again as _Rera_ thrust out its staff at the now-blazing _Apelio_. The lion-like beast let out a roar—and then that aura exploded outwards in a sheet of flame, consuming _Belphegor_ and _Ba'al_ until they were little more than shadows—

Masumi had to cover her face against the wall of heat that had flared up from the explosion, but she heard the sound of at least one of Seika's monster being reduced to hard-light dust. She smiled beneath the crook of her elbow at Hotene's cunning move.

Moments later, the heat had died down to the point that Masumi judged it safe to look up. She did—and promptly felt the grin slide off her face at what was in front of her.

Seika's _Belphegor_ was gone—but its _Ba'al_ was _still on the field_.

"Wha—?" Hotene was too stunned to speak more than a single syllable at a time. "How?!"

"During my first turn of the Duel," Seika replied, "I discarded the Quick-Play Spell: _Apostles of Purgatory_ to activate my _Sublimation of Purgatory's_ effect. If any _Infernoid_ monsters I control would be destroyed by a card effect, _Apostles'_ effect lets me banish it from my Graveyard, instead of destroying one of those monsters."

Masumi grit her teeth. _Damn_. At least Hotene had managed to remove half of Seika's damage potential—which kept their Life Points that much safer for the time being.

"Well, that stinks," pouted Hotene. "I can still do this, though—'cause my _Noble Apelio's_ effect can be activated during anybody's turn, too! I'll banish _Combination with the Spirit Beast_ from my Graveyard, an' give all my _Spirit Beasts_ another 500 ATK and DEF for the rest of—"

She broke off here. Something on her Duel Disk screen had caused her eyes to bug to the size of tennis balls, and her jaw to slacken to roughly the same size. Exactly what was causing that to happen became apparent just a moment later.

"How'd my _Combination_ get banished already?!" the tiny Duelist shrieked. "I swear I put it in my _Graveyard_!"

"Oh, it _was_ in your Graveyard," purred Seika, damnably. "But, you see, your _Combination_ never destroyed my _Belphegor_ at all—I _Released_ it instead, so that I could activate its _second_ effect."

A shocked Masumi felt her expression beginning to rival Hotene's own. _That monster had_ another _effect?!_

"Once per turn," Seika went on, "during _anyone's_ turn, I might add—I can Release one of my monsters, then target a card in my opponent's Graveyard and banish it—like that _Combination_ I know you were hoping to use again."

Hotene looked too red in the face to even speak, and so settled for stamping her little feet on the road. Masumi couldn't blame her; once again, Seika was proving to be one of the most devious opponents she'd ever faced.

"There's no need to be so mad at me," the virus smirked at them. "Consider where you are now. You're five children, fighting a superior entity whose Deck you can't even _begin_ to understand. Getting angry will only cloud yourselves to the inevitable truth: you are going to lose this Duel."

It leaned in closer. "And you," it hissed, speaking slowly and deliberately, "are all going to _die_."

"Oh, will you just _shut up_?!" bellowed Yaiba. "Like _hell_ we're going to lose to you today!"

Seika didn't bother dignifying the Synchro Duelist's boast with a response. "Enough! _Infernoid Ba'al_! Press on with your attack—and destroy that infernal _Rera_!"

As _Ba'al_ advanced on the hapless _Rera_ , something occurred to Masumi at that point. Seika was drawing its power from Q—a supercomputer, an artificial entity—yet the burst of emotion it had displayed just now sounded _human_.

Then she remembered that Q had been designed to not only imitate the appearance of any Duelist it faced in battle—but also their behavior and mannerisms as well. Seika's infectious programming, evidently, had reached these abilities by now, and was even now turning what had once been a cold and calculating virus into a frothing-at-the-mouth madman. The thought of a computer virus behaving like a human being made the Fusion user shudder, for reasons she could not adequately explain.

Ba'al, meanwhile, had dipped its fanged jaws once more—only to be rebuffed by the flames that had, yet again, spread out over both _Rera_ and _Apelio_.

"Quick-Play Spell: _Bond with the Spirit Beasts_!" declared Hotene. Her curly hair was devolving into an even-more-tangled frizz, and her blue eyes still sparked with childish fury. But that shark's smile was back on her face once more—which made the reveal of her other Set card all the more worthy of celebration, in Masumi's opinion.

"When I activate _this_ card," the tiny Duelist grinned, "I can banish 2 _Spirit Beast_ monsters I control—an' then, I can Special Summon a _Spirit Beast_ monster from my Extra Deck, ignoring its Summoning conditions!"

The fire in her eyes looked as bright as the flames that burned over _Rera_ and _Apelio_ , consuming them once more. "An' I know just the monster to bring out." She clapped her hands together.

 **"** ** _Contact Fusion!_** **"** Hotene screamed. **"Appear!** ** _Tamed Spirit Beast Apelio!_** **"**

Seconds later, Hotene's ace monster barreled out of the inferno with a bellow that chilled to the bone, even in Seika's hellish Field Spell. _Apelio_ and _Rera_ , now joined as one monster, both stared down Seika's lone monster with even more intent to kill than before (Level 6: _ATK 2600_ /DEF 400).

"These _Spirit Beasts_ of yours … " Seika growled. "You're proving to be even more annoying than you were last night. Battle Phase! _Infernoid Ba'al_ —attack _Tamed Apelio_!"

 _Ba'al_ launched forward, but _Apelio_ was ready: it leapt right for the mecha-demon with the speed, roar, and momentum of an average freight train. The two monsters connected with a shockwave that shattered glass—on the windshields of the closest cars, and the windows of the buildings either side—sending the LID stumbling.

The blow was a mortal one—for both monsters; _Apelio_ had butted _Ba'al_ right in the chest, crumpling its metal frame as if it was aluminum foil. But _Ba'al_ had no intention of dying alone; its claws raked at _Apelio's_ back ferociously even as it toppled backwards to the ground. _Rera_ was dislodged from her mount in the assault, hitting the asphalt with a wet-sounding _SMACK_ , never to stir again. _Apelio_ and _Ba'al_ followed suit not long after; their combined weight shook the earth for blocks around as they tumbled to the road. Both creatures disintegrated into photonic dust soon after; _Rera's_ body faded into thin air as well—but the brutality of the battle was to linger with Masumi and her friends for much longer.

"Did you know that was going to happen?" the Fusion user asked Hotene. The tiny Duelist shook her head; her face looked pale with shock, and her smirk was nowhere to be found.

"Turn end." Seika, on the other hand, showed no sign of being rattled by the vicious fight.

"Makes you wonder, doesn't it?" it mused. "You've grown so used to the thought of Real Solid Vision being used to form creatures of fantasy that fight each other—fairies and demons, warriors and dragons, machines and even plants. But behind every fantasy lies that one immutable spark of _reality_. Real Solid Vision is _real_. Duel Monsters are _monsters_.

"Why, then, should their battles not affect the _real world_?" it asked. "For that matter, why should they not fight like _monsters_?"

Masumi could not find an answer to that.

"I have taken your world of _fantasy_ ," Seika gloated, "and cracked it down the middle to expose the _reality_ behind a lie your headmistress has done her damnedest to conceal: the Solid Vision your Leo Corporation marketed as a tool for children's entertainment … is nothing more than a nascent _weapon of mass destruction_. And the longer this Duel goes on, the sooner this world will begin to see an even bigger truth."

"Which is?" Masumi crossed her arms.

"If this weapon is not used," Seika spoke, slowly and deliberately, "then Academia will not stop with the Xyz Dimension. They will exterminate _everything_."

Silence. Masumi felt her jaw hanging slack from her mouth. Nor was she the only one; Yaiba seemed to have forgotten where he was completely—let alone that it was his turn. Shen, Hotene and Fuyu were trading glances that reflected each other's surprise.

"Don't act so shocked," Seika chided them. "Of course I know about the Dimensions; I've interfaced with just about every last one of Q's systems—including," it added, "its _memory banks_. And the files I saw in there, even those restricted to all but the most senior LeoCorp personnel … all that has happened, all that is yet to come … "

There was a long, hissing noise that Masumi needed some time to realize was a sigh. "No one I have killed has ever died a meaningless death," Seika told them. "If you knew the things I saw in those files, you'd know then and there why I had no other choice but to kill them."

"Why don't you tell us now—save us the time?!" Fuyu demanded.

The virus chuckled again. "To answer that, I'd have to tell you much more than your _human_ minds could ever hope to process. Suffice it to say that if you had a choice between dying to me or to Academia … you'd choose me. And not only that," it sneered, "but you wouldn't even _hesitate_."

"That doesn't even make sense!" Masumi shot back. "Academia doesn't kill people, they seal them into cards! I mean," she added hastily, "what they're doing is wrong—but unlike you, they stop short of _actual murder_!"

She knew from Himika that Hokuto, Professor Marco, and—she could only hope—all the other victims of the Maiami Championship yet remained within the cards that contained them, kept under tight security she knew not where. Nor did she wish to find out; Masumi did not trust her emotional stability to last for long should she ever encounter Hokuto inside his card.

"As I said, you know very little of the whole story," Seika hissed. "There is no known method to reverse the process that sealed those people. It is even likely that Academia deliberately designed that technology to be irreversible. By capturing them, therefore, in cards by a process that cannot be undone, do they not consign their victims to a fate worse than any death I could give them?"

Masumi scoffed at this. "So—that's it, then? That's your motive for attacking this city—our _home_?! You found something inside Q that made you decide to kill people, so that Academia couldn't seal them up—and you think you're being more _humane_ than they are because of it."

She did not bother at all to contain her disgust. "If even one _word_ of that is true," she said, "then I've never heard a plan so _stupid_ —or so _sick_."

Yaiba spat at Seika. "You really _are_ a virus. No one is that psychotic—man _or_ machine. And if you think we're going to let you kill _one more person_ after hearing all that," he yelled, "then you're _dead wrong!_ MY TURN!"

The force with which he drew his card created a gust that Masumi could feel against her bare arm.

" _Rising Purgatory's_ effect!" Seika cried out. "During my opponent's Standby Phase—"

" _I don't care!_ " snarled Yaiba, slapping a card on his blade even as Seika levitated another _Infernoid_ from its Graveyard slot into its hand. "I'll start by Summoning _XX-Saber Boggarknight_ in Attack Position!"

Yaiba's monster whirled onto the battlefield with a swish of bright red, unfurling into a scarlet-caped, silver-armored warrior (Level 4: _ATK 1900_ /DEF 1000). The sword in its hand cut through the air in crisscrossing slashes, before stopping with the tip of its blade pointed right at Seika.

"Then," Yaiba continued, "because _Boggarknight's_ effect lets me Special Summon another _X-Saber_ monster from my hand when it's Normal Summoned, I'll Special Summon the Tuner monster XX-Saber _Fulhelmknight_ , also in Attack Position!" Seconds later, a second red-cloaked warrior landed on the cracked road, this one with long blonde hair and a smile that looked as sharp as the segmented whip-blade it slashed through the air (Level 3: _ATK 1300_ /DEF 1000).

Masumi felt a surge of elation as Yaiba's field took shape. If he wanted to, he could Synchro Summon right now—and win this Duel in the process. But she knew Yaiba well enough to know that this field was only the beginning of his textbook strategy—he was a Duelist who didn't do anything piecemeal. Only when he had built his field to its fullest extent would he strike with the overwhelming force that had earned his status as LDS' Synchro circuit rep.

And sure enough: "Next, since I control at least two _X-Saber_ monsters," Yaiba declared, "I Special Summon _XX-Saber Faultroll_ from my hand—again in Attack Position!" Now a third flash of red, the biggest one yet, had dropped onto the field with all the force of a lead weight—its impact cracked the road even more, raising dust in its wake. By the time it cleared, the massive form of _Faultroll_ was already standing between its companions—taller by a foot than either and at least three times as broad, with gleaming red armor and a massive sword that all but the strongest of men could not hope to lift, never mind to yield (Level 6: _ATK 2400_ /DEF 1800).

The presence of this new monster was not lost on Masumi. What little of Synchro Summoning she cared to know had come from watching Yaiba's prowess at the method time and again. But the Fusion Duelist had noted the Levels of each monster her friend had brought onto the field, and knew instinctively that he intended to deliver the crushing blow—right here, right now.

"Now," grinned Yaiba, "I'll Tune my Level 3 _Fulhelmknight_ with my Level 4 _Boggarknight_!" The warriors either side of _Faultroll_ now lunged into the air, much farther than even Shen's super-strength could have carried him. Greenish-white nergy raced from their forms, turning _Fulhelmknight_ into a green mass that expanded into a trio of glowing rings, while _Boggarknight_ had shrunk to a gleaming point in the sky—only to divide into four of them just as quickly, encircled by the rings that had once been its companion:

 **"** **Wielder of crossed blades of light! Trample over this mountain of corpses!**

 **"** **Synchro Summon!"** Yaiba bellowed. **"Come forth! Level 7!** ** _X-Saber Souza_** **!"**

And come forth _Souza_ did: one second, it was a shadow, veiled behind sheets of blue fire. The next, it was a living cannonball, vaulting onto the field with enough momentum to leave a crater where it hit the road. Its tattered red cloak, hardly even singed by its trip through this Solid Vision hell, billowed as if alive while _Souza_ , that giant among men, brandished twin swords at Seika—grinning with insane bloodlust all the while (Level 7: _ATK 2500_ /DEF 1600).

"But I'm not gonna stop there," Yaiba hissed at the virus, "not after all the evil things I've been hearing you say! I activate my _Faultroll's_ effect—once per turn, I can target a Level 4 or lower _X-Saber_ in my Graveyard, and Special Summon it to my field!"

His grin was just as big as _Souza's_. "One guess at which monster I'm bringing back!"

Masumi didn't even need that one guess; the choice was clear to her even before _Faultroll_ had smashed its blade into the sundered asphalt beneath it, even before _Fulhelmknight_ had emerged from the cracks beneath, tossing her golden hair as if nothing had happened (Level 3: _ATK 1300_ /DEF 1000). Nor had her thoughts stopped there—it was clear as crystal why Yaiba had chosen to Summon that monster even before that familiar green-and-white glow had begun to envelope both it and _Faultroll_.

"Now I'll Tune my Level 3 _Fulhelmknight_ again," Yaiba shouted, "this time, with my Level 6 _Faultroll_!" Both monsters leapt into the fiery skies, lost to sight within seconds—but the burst of green light that followed, and Yaiba's chanting with it, told Masumi exactly what was coming:

 **"** **Let your silver armor shine! Crush the hope of all who oppose you!"**

 **"** ** _Synchro Summon!_** **"** thundered Yaiba. **"Come forth! Level** ** _9_** **!** ** _XX-Saber Gatmuz_** **!"**

If _Souza_ was a giant among men, _Gatmuz_ was a behemoth among giants; Yaiba's ace monster hit the field with all the force of a meteor, shattering the road completely and creating a shockwave that overturned every car in sight. The silver armor that encased every inch of its body was a dazzling thing to see—combined with the pristine red cape that swished from around its shoulders, and the massive double-edged blade it grasped in its hand, it looked as though the Synchro user had Summoned a god of war (Level 9: _ATK 3100_ /DEF 2600).

" _XX-Saber Gatmuz'_ effect!" Yaiba stabbed out his finger at Seika as though it was his very own sword. "By Releasing an _X-Saber_ monster, I can discard a random card from my opponent's hand! I'll Release my _Souza_!"

 _Souza_ knelt to the ground, his body glowing with light. There was a blinding _FLASH_ , and then it was gone—leaving nothing behind but a surge of energy that was sucked into _Gatmuz'_ blade as swiftly as it had been born. _Gatmuz_ leveled its weapon at Seika—and fired that energy right at the virus. It just barely grazed one of the three cards Seika had been levitating as part of its hand; seconds later, that card had been disintegrated into yet more fragments of hard-light.

"I hope you've got some way of bringing that monster back, Yaiba," Masumi remarked as she gazed at the spot where _Souza_ had been. She wasn't too worried, though— _Gatmuz_ would be enough for what was to come.

"Don't worry, Masumi—the last thing I want to do is to leave you with an empty field." Yaiba was grinning. "And speaking of empty fields— _Battle Phase_!" he bellowed. " _XX-Saber Gatmuz_ —attack Seika's Life Points directly!"

With a mighty heave, _Gatmuz_ swung its blade aloft, rushing forward with a juggernaut's abandon, straight for the hated virus—

"Trap, activate: _Azure Flames of Purgatory_!" hissed Seika just then. "When I activate this card, I can Special Summon an _Infernoid_ monster from my hand, with its effects negated until the next turn!"

Masumi's curse was drowned out in the massive wall of cerulean flames that had erupted between Seika and _Gatmuz_ , the latter of whom had screeched to a halt even as it had sliced downward for the _coup de grâce_. When those flames dispersed, it was to reveal the largest monster Seika had yet Summoned—in this Duel or any other—and one that Masumi had been hoping against hope to never see again.

 **"** **Descend!"** Seika screamed. **"** ** _Infernoid Adramelech_** **!"**

Like some devilish imitation of a phoenix rising from its pyre, the full form of _Adramelech_ burst onto the field with little other preamble. Its bluish-gray body was a veritable wall of spiked and sharpened metal, half as high again as the apartment complex through which Seika had made its explosive entrance. Burnished wings cast shadows aplenty over the field, heavy claws clenched with malicious intent, and all eight of the tube-like plugs in its body were blazing with hellfire (Level 8: _ATK 2800_ /DEF 0).

The knowledge that Yaiba's monster was not only stronger—if only slightly—but also raring to attack again due to Seika's Trap causing a replay, was all that soothed the hatred and fear that had been boiling in tandem within Masumi. While she hated the fact that Seika would survive to take one more turn yet again, Masumi had every confidence in Yaiba allowing the LID to survive so that she could provide the killing blow.

She studied the cards in her hand, and the sight was promising; although the Fusion user would not be able to bring out any of her ace monsters this turn, perhaps that was for the best. There was a time and a place for wanting to use your pride and joy, but with how Seika had been treating the pride and joy of every Duelist it had been fighting—Fuyu's _Deltatheros_ , Shen's _Gongfu_ , Hotene's _Tamed Apelio_ —Masumi wanted to leave nothing to chance.

Meanwhile: " _XX-Saber Gatmuz_ —attack _Infernoid Adramelech_!"

Yaiba's shriek melded, almost seamlessly, with the sing of wind against his ace monster's blade as _Gatmuz_ rushed for the gigantic demon. That blade flashed once in a downward arc—and with a mighty BANG, something exploded within the _Infernoid_ as the Synchro Monster's sword cleaved it down the middle. Both halves of _Adramelech_ toppled either side of its Summoner against the adjacent buildings, causing bits of brick to rain down onto the sidewalk below—and Seika's Life Points to drop to 900.

 _Just inside the red zone_. Masumi saw this—and on top of being grateful that everyone who'd been watching the confrontation unfold had had the sense to evacuate, felt a sense of triumph far greater than any she'd felt this Duel—

—until both halves of _Adramelech_ , and _Gatmuz_ not long after, began to glow with a horribly familiar light.

 _Damn it!_ Masumi thought, feeling her emergent triumph deflate completely. _I forgot_ that _card was still on the field!_

"The second effect of my _Sublimation of Purgatory_ ," Seika said smugly. "After damage calculation involving an _Infernoid_ monster, I can send it to the Graveyard to banish both monsters that battled."

Yaiba's face had gone so slack that Masumi suspected he'd not lasted long enough in his own Duel to see this other effect of Seika's infernal card. All he could do was watch in horror as _Gatmuz_ burst into a million swirling motes of photonic dust, with _Adramelech_ following suit bare moments later—leaving behind, once again, a barren field for both Seika and the LID.

It took a long time before Yaiba could recover enough to get on with his turn. "I was hoping I wouldn't have to go this far," he said sullenly, "but I've got no other choice. Since I have at least two _X-Sabers_ in my Graveyard, and no monsters on my field, I can Special Summon _XX-Saber Gardestrike_ from my hand in Attack Position!"

He swiped a card on his blade, causing another red-cloaked monster to appear before him; this one, a wolf-like beast brandishing a vicious ripping edge that curved across its arm from palm to elbow (Level 5: _ATK 2100_ /DEF 1400).

"Two cards face-down—turn end!" The Synchro Duelist slipped all but one of the cards in his hand into his Duel Disk, looking equal parts relieved that he could salvage the field advantage he'd lost, and chastised for what he must have thought was a rookie mistake.

Seika, apparently, was thinking the same thing. "You almost had me there," it said conversationally as it began its turn. "It stings, doesn't it? Knowing you have what it takes to defeat your foe—only to watch your best-laid plans crash and burn? It's like I was saying— _fantasy_ and _reality_. One cannot exist without the other in its shadow."

It began to telekinetically swipe cards hither and thither. "Since it is my Standby Phase, I Special Summon an _Infernoid Token_ to my field with my _Flood of Purgatory_!" Then, as yet another metallic bulb materialized before it (Level 1: _ATK 0_ /DEF 0): "I send 2 _Infernoid_ monsters from my Deck to the Graveyard via the effect of _Awakened Purgatory_ , and return 1 banished _Infernoid_ monster to my Graveyard with the effect of _Rising Purgatory_!

"Next," Seika declared, "I activate the Continuous Spell: _Soul Absorption_ —and now—"

"Trap, activate: _At One with the Sword_!" Yaiba interrupted, throwing out his hand to reveal one of the cards he'd Set the previous turn. "If the only monster on our field is an _X-Saber_ monster, I can target that monster, and treat it as an Equip Card for that monster! So I'll target my _XX-Saber Gardestrike_ —and then, _At One with the Sword_ lets it gain an extra 800 ATK!"

Masumi smiled as _Gardestrike_ made a flourishing pose with its arm-blade, which seemed to shine even brighter in the firelight as its owner's point gauge rose to 2900 ATK—just enough, she knew, to withstand an assault from any one of Seika's _Infernoids_!

"As I was saying," repeated the virus, as if nothing had happened, "by banishing the Token on my field, and the _Infernoid Lucifugus_ your _Gatmuz_ so kindly discarded to my Graveyard last turn, I Special Summon _Infernoid Ba'al_ back from my Graveyard! **Descend!** "

No sooner had it said this than the red-and-gold metallic bulk of _Ba'al_ hit the field with the force of a bomb, spreading its wings to their fullest extent and staring down the LID with cruel intent (Level 7: _ATK 2600_ /DEF 0).

"I think it's time that I let you in on another hard truth," Seika hissed. "What do you know about the law of equivalent exchange?"

"In order to receive, something equal must first be given," Shen answered. "It is self-explanatory."

"And more applicable than you realize," replied Seika. "The first law of thermodynamics: energy can be transformed from one form to another, but can neither be created nor destroyed. Your Solid Vision network requires a power grid sufficient enough to reproduce the cards in your Deck, and all the audio and visual effects that come with them. What you might not know is that this law can be applied to more than just energy.

"Exhibit A: my _Soul Absorption_ ," Seika explained. "Every time a card is banished—regardless of who controlled it, or where it first existed—I gain 500 Life Points for each banished card!"

Masumi felt her skin begin to prickle. For a very brief moment, she wondered if this new sensation had been her uneasiness at the implications of what this card could accomplish for Seika. Because his _Infernoids_ relied on banishing other _Infernoids_ just to be Summoned, a card that could heal Seika every time a card was banished was exceedingly dangerous. The stinging feeling only intensified a brief moment later, as she watched the virus' LP gauge creep upwards to 1400—knowing that this one card had just made it that much harder for the LID to win.

And then—one brief moment after that—Masumi felt that stinging erupt into a full-blown, white-hot _pain_.

She didn't even remember twisting her mouth open to scream more loudly than she'd ever screamed in her life; nor did she feel herself topple to the ground. The agony was more intense than anything she'd never experienced before: a pain that seared flesh, bone, and soul with equal impunity—a pain that could not be assigned any form whatsoever, for even as Masumi would try, that pain would intensify, mutate into a wholly new excruciating torture. Rusting hooks became burns from acid, which then became white-hot needles piercing every pore of her skin—

And then it was gone. Masumi heard her ears ringing—only to realize moments later that it wasn't just that, but the echoes of her own friends' screaming. Through groggy eyes, she saw Yaiba and Hotene, Fuyu and Shen—all lying on the ground, feebly stirring from what must have been the same pain she'd been feeling. Hotene was sniffling where she lay; the tiny Duelist was convulsing so violently that Masumi could not be sure if she was crying, or if the pain had been that intense for the little girl that the shock of it was still coursing through her body.

She wondered, idly, if this had been on par with the torture they'd been subjected to during the _Shaddoll_ incident … or if it had been, somehow, even _worse_.

"Wha—?" Yaiba's body was twitching as though he'd just undergone a seizure, and his speech was slurred. "Wha—jus—penned?"

"The first law of thermodynamics," Seika said, as if that explained everything. "Energy can be transformed from one form to another, but cannot be created or destroyed." A pause. "That includes _life energy_ , incidentally.

"My _Soul Absorption_ can replenish my Life Points," the virus went on. "But because it does not draw from the Life Points of others, that life energy has to come from somewhere—such as the Solid Vision of this Action Field. Solid Vision, that—if you haven't noticed by now—" it added, "I can control _completely_ thanks to Q. So I took the process one step further; I manipulated that Solid Vision so that it could interact with your very own bodies, and thus create the pain that the five of you have just felt."

" … Why?" It took all of Masumi's breath to voice that single word.

"To prove a point," Seika answered simply. "As I said, energy cannot be created or destroyed; it can only be transferred or transformed. Ergo, life cannot be created or destroyed; it can only be given."

The virus' blue eyes flashed. "And _taken away_."

By now, Yaiba had finally gotten to his feet, but he had to lean on his bamboo _shinai_ to do so. "You're a monster," he managed to growl. "You don't even care that you're killing and torturing human beings and their _kids_ , do you?!"

Seika laughed, an eerie noise to hear from a computer virus. "Monster? Please. To call me a _monster_ would imply I'm just as _human_ as you—that you and I even think on the same level. But I'm _not_ human, _am I?_ "

Yaiba, gritting his teeth, only spoke five words. "Trap, activate: _Gatmuz' Emergency Orders!_ "

Masumi whirled around. _Another Trap?!_

"When I activate this card," the Synchro Duelist spoke, "I can target two _X-Sabers_ in my Graveyard, and Special Summon them both! I'll bring back my _XX-Saber Faultroll_ , and my _X-Saber Souza_ —both in Attack Position!"

Two gigantic portals flared either side of _Gardestrike_. To its left rose the daunting form of _Souza_ , twin swords brought to bear and a manic grin on his face even after his sojourn in the Graveyard (Level 7: _ATK 2500_ /DEF 1600); to its right gleamed the crimson armor and gigantic blade of _Faultroll_ (Level 6: _ATK 2400_ /DEF 1800). Both monsters were gazing right at Seika, as if determined to make the virus pay for what it had done to their Summoner.

"You should have kept them where they belonged," Seika sneered. "You believed you could use them as a wall to protect against my _Infernoids_ —but I have many _Infernoids_ … and many ways to bring them back.

"I banish my _Infernoid Asmodai_ and my _Infernoid Belphegor_ from my Graveyard," cried the virus, "and revive my _Infernoid Adramelech_! **Descend!** "

 _Oh no_. Masumi hadn't even registered the monster's name in her mind—it mattered so little to her now. The moment her ears had heard the word "banished", she'd instantly tensed in horror of what she knew was coming. Even as the bluish-gray hulk that was _Adramelech_ had reappeared on the field, growling sinisterly and flexing its iron-gray claws (Level 8: _ATK 2800_ /DEF 0), the Fusion user could only stand and await the inevitable.

 _Adramelech_ roared—and before Masumi could blink, agony seared through her body again. She felt her eyes rolling into the back of her head; her vision was beginning to turn gray—and all the while, she felt her flesh sizzle and peel as if by red-hot knives, only to crawl inside her skin like the venom of so many hornet stings—she could hear her friends screaming with her as Seika continued to torture them with its mastery of Solid Vision—

It was gone. Masumi felt herself retch on the ground before she'd even become aware of where she was. Yaiba was coughing, gasping for air; she could hear nothing from the others. A quick look around showed Hotene, Shen, and Fuyu all motionless where they lay; an ashen Yaiba was stumbling towards them, trying to heave them to their feet despite the aftershocks that wracked his body.

"C'mon … " he was saying, "get up, Hotene … we still need you up here … please don't drop on us now, Fuyu … "

But Seika, ever relentless—ever remorseless—appeared determined to kick them all while they were down. "Battle Phase," it hissed, its LP gauge now at 2400 thanks to the cursed _Soul Absorption_ card it controlled. " _Infernoid Ba'al_ —attack _X-Saber Souza_!"

 _Souza_ crossed its blades, ready to meet its foe head-on—but _Ba'al_ was as agile as it was enormous; the fell machine-demon rushed for the Synchro Monster as if bidden by the devil himself. It butted _Souza_ to the ground, scattering its two swords with a swipe of its claws. One of the blades just barely grazed Yaiba's side, sending his and the LID's collective LP gauge to 3100. Before _Souza_ could react, _Ba'al's_ ugly head dipped downward, jaws opened wide—

Masumi was grateful there was nothing left in her stomach: the sight of _Souza's_ demise was not one she'd expected to witness in a Duel. She'd closed her eyes at the worst part, of course—what it had done to her _Paz_ last night was still in sharp focus—but that still didn't block out the noise of metal teeth gnashing, ripping apart its prey with animal voracity.

Very little of _Souza_ remained when next Masumi chanced a glimpse of the field—and even those grisly remnants were fast fading into their component photons. Two more _X-Sabers_ still remained, however—and only one of them would be strong enough to withstand another attack.

" _Infernoid Adramelech_ ," bellowed Seika, "attack _XX-Saber Faultroll_!"

The demon didn't even bother with a physical fight; it heaved backwards, opening its beaked mouth—and vomited a torrent of blue fire at the armored warrior. The hellish noise drowned out any sound _Faultroll_ might have lived long enough to make before it was incinerated.

The flames kept on going even after Yaiba's monster was no more, rushing for the Synchro user without so much as pausing. Yaiba ducked, and perhaps that saved him from further torment—but the flames still licked at his clothing long enough to show the LID's gauge dropping again, this time to 2700.

" _Infernoid Ba'al's_ effect," smirked Seika. "At the end of the Battle Phase, if it battled a monster, I can banish 1 card on the field—like your _XX-Saber Gardestrike_!"

 _No!_ Masumi could only watch helplessly, remembering how that effect had helped dismantle her field in her own Duel, as _Ba'al_ thrust out the spear in its claws, piercing _Gardestrike_ before it could even lift its blade.

Then—as if they and that monster were linked— _Soul Absorption's_ effect kicked in for a third time, and Masumi and the others cried out in agonizing, indescribable pain. Frigid claws were sinking into the Fusion user's chest, piercing her very heart and wrenching it into shreds; red-hot metal was coursing through every blood vessel in her body—

 _FLASH_. As quickly as _Gardestrike_ vanished from view, in that burst of light, the pain left Masumi again, and she dropped to the ground on one knee. She had only the strength to lift her head, glaring at Seika with wordless hatred.

Behind her, she heard Yaiba groaning as he tried to recover his footing. The others were totally silent, and totally motionless; Masumi did not wish to find out if they were merely lying there, waiting for the pain to fade once more—or if the worst had already happened—

"Turn end." A satisfied Seika laughed, watching its LP gauge climb further still to 2900. "Is this all you can do, now?" it taunted the LID. "Is this the only strategy that you can muster against me? To cause more damage to me than I am to you?"

It sighed. "Fantasy and reality—I'm going to keep on saying it until all of you drop dead. However strong your monsters, however complex your strategies in using them—the cold, hard truth is that you're still—just— _children_." It emphasized each word with deadly sincerity. "And like children, you lash out at the inevitable in your ignorance, when things don't go your way."

"That's not being a child," Masumi retorted. "That's not even being _ignorant_. It's called being _human_ , Seika. And we humans don't give up without a fight!"

Her fingers tensed. " _My turn—DRAW!_ "

When she did, it was as though all the pain had left her; it felt as though the Fusion user was in her element again. The feel of the card in her fingers, the pleasure of stomping out this monstrous threat to her— _their_ —hometown; both of them filled her aching veins with an unquenchable fire that none of Seika's demons could smother.

She took a glance at the cards in her hand, feeling that furious flame spread into each one, igniting the fresh rock that had been spinning in her mind, waiting to be cut into her next flawless gem—

 _—_ _grind at the preform—_

 _—_ _sand at the edges—_

 _—_ _lap at the surface—_

 _—_ _polish for good measure—_

Her eyes flicked to the card she had just drawn—

 _Et voilà_.

" _Rising Purgatory's_ effect!" Seika was saying. "During each of your Standby Phases, I can target an _Infernoid_ monster in my Graveyard, and return it to my hand!"

Masumi didn't care any more than Yaiba had—it wouldn't help Seika now.

"I activate the Spell Card: _Gem-Knight Fusion_!" she shrieked, slapping the card on her blade hard enough to sting her hand. "With this card, I can fuse monsters on my field or in my hand for a Fusion Summon!"

She took a pair of cards out from her hand, sliding them and her prized Spell into her Graveyard. "I choose to fuse both the _Gem-Knight Obsidia_ and the _Gem-Knight Ganet_ in my hand!"

From the corner of her eye, Masumi saw the echoes of both _Gem-Knights_ —one in gleaming jet-black armor, the other vivid blood-red—materializing either side of her, rising into the air. The skies above the field distorted, dispelling the towering flames long enough to reveal the swirling portal above, into which her monsters now headed:

 **"** **Sharp jet-black darkness! Crystal of burning resolve! In a whirlpool of light, combine to bring forth a new dazzling radiance!"**

 **"** **Fusion Summon!"** cried Masumi. **"The one who pursues justice!** ** _Gem-Knight Rubyz_** **!"**

The first she saw of the Fusion Monster was a black shadow half as tall as Masumi again, dropping from the portal that had birthed it like a lead weight and causing the street to crack further still. By the time the dust had settled, the scarlet armor of _Rubyz_ could be seen in its entirety, its wearer uttering a growling battle cry at the _Infernoids_ across the field (Level 6: _ATK 2500_ /DEF 1400).

" _Gem-Knight Obsidia's_ effect!" Masumi cried out. "If it's sent from my hand to the Graveyard—no matter how or why—I can target a Level 4 or lower Normal Monster in my Graveyard, and Special Summon it! So I'll bring out my _Ganet_ , in Attack Position!" The scarlet knight she'd caught a glimpse of earlier now shimmered to _Rubyz'_ right, raising a burning fist into the air (Level 4: _ATK 1900_ /DEF 0).

"Next!" Masumi swiped another card. "I Normal Summon _Gem-Knight Sanyx_ in Attack Position!" To the left of _Rubyz_ , a second monster took shape before her: another armored knight, this one red-and-gold, with bands of milky white throughout, brandishing a heavy ball and chain with spikes as long and wide as her palm (Level 4: _ATK 1800_ /DEF 900).

"You fail to impress me, Masumi Kōtsu," Seika said dismissively. "I know that _Gem-Knight_ Spell of yours inside and out. You won't risk using its effect to bring it back to your hand—you won't risk giving me even more Life Points just so you can show me how good at Fusion you believe yourself to be!"

At this, Masumi grinned. "Your mistake is thinking I even _need_ to use that effect, Seika."

"Hm?" The eyes of the virus dimmed a little. That only made Masumi's smile all the bigger. For she knew there was more than one way to bring out a Fusion Monster; and as the best Fusion Duelist in all of LDS—no matter what Hotene might have to say about it—Masumi knew how to use just about every one of them.

"I activate the Spell Card: _Particle Fusion_!" she screamed. "With this card, I can fuse monsters on my field for a Fusion Summon! I choose to fuse my _Gem-Knight Ganet_ with my _Gem-Knight Sanyx_!"

Light flared from overhead as another vortex threatened to wipe out the flames below. Both _Sanyx_ and _Ganet_ floated inside, leaving nothing behind but a surge of even brighter light that drowned out Masumi's chanting:

 **"** **Crystal of burning resolve! Gem of crimson fire! In a whirlpool of light, combine to bring forth a new dazzling radiance!"**

 **"** ** _Fusion Summon!_** **The one who pursues retribution!** ** _Gem-Knight Madeira_** **!"**

A second _Gem-Knight_ fell to the earth with a _THUD_. This one was taller and broader than _Rubyz_ , though not by much (Level 7: _ATK 2200_ /DEF 1950). Red-hot fists, dripping with molten metal that sizzled on the asphalt beneath, clenched a massive blade that glowed with all the heat of an industrial smelter.

" _Particle Fusion's_ effect is still active!" Masumi shouted at Seika. "After I activate it, it's immediately banished from my Graveyard—

"Did you even hear what I said about my _Soul Absorption's_ effect?" Seika asked, with just a hint of irritation. "It doesn't have to be my card that gets banished—it can be any card, by any effect and at any time, that lets me gain 500 Life Points."

The virus leered at Masumi. "And you know what _that_ means— _all too well_."

But the Fusion user only smiled back at him. "Doesn't matter—because banishing _Particle Fusion_ also lets me target one of the monsters I used as Fusion Material for _Madeira_ —and then, _Madeira_ gains ATK equal to that monster's original ATK until the end of the turn! And I'm going to target," she yelled, raising her voice even more, "my _Gem-Knight Ganet_!"

 _Madeira's_ sword blazed with incredible heat. Some of the molten metal that dripped off its fists now ran down the length of its blade, hardening into a pair of vicious ripping edges and causing the monster's point gauge to skyrocket to _4100_ —

Masumi felt the prickling of her skin once more—the only sign she knew _it_ was coming—before the agony flared across her body like so much of the fire that encircled the LID. But whether because the cells in her body had become numb to the pain now—or because she knew she was about to win this Duel—it had become less noticeable to her now. It no longer felt like an old enemy, a reminder of failures past—but merely an old friend, and the success that came with a thousand of those failures.

And so—" _Gem-Knight Rubyz'_ effect!" the Fusion user screeched, not even paying attention to Seika's own Life Points ascending further still to 3400—it didn't matter how high they climbed now, because: "Once per turn, I can Release a _Gem-_ monster on my field—and have _Rubyz_ gain ATK equal to the ATK that monster had on the field! That's right!" she taunted the virus, who had shrunk backwards upon hearing this effect. "You can do the math, Seika— you don't even _need_ a supercomputer to know what that means, Seika!"

At the last word of this, _Rubyz_ and _Madeira_ had crossed blades with each other, as if guarding the way to Masumi from Seika. Now the armor of _Madeira_ began to glow, as if the furnace-like heat that blazed from its sword was being fueled from within—before suddenly being encased in consuming fire that ran down the blade of _Rubyz'_ axe and over _its_ armor, sending its gauge higher and higher until stopping at an unbelievable **_6600_**.

"This Duel is over—and SO ARE YOU!" Masumi screamed. " _BATTLE PHASE!_ "

She didn't bother declaring a target for her _Rubyz_ to attack, nor did it matter to her: Seika's Life Points weren't high enough to absorb a hit from her monster to _Adramelech_ —let alone to _Ba'al_. This Duel had been one of the most hard-fought in her memory, and one of the most traumatic for it … but it was over now; she had won …

 _Rubyz_ , meanwhile, hurtled for Seika's field like a shooting star on legs, leaving a trail of melted footprints in the asphalt behind. It swung its axe with a mighty heave; Masumi's eyes didn't see which of the _Infernoids_ it had hit, owing to the colossal explosion that followed, spreading throughout the field in the blink of an eye. In her mind, she thought it might have been _Adramelech_ —

Then the sheet of fire washed over her. The pain was searing, and she felt her hair curling up from the intense heat—but the victorious feeling in Masumi's chest was more than enough to keep her from falling to the ground once more.

She held up her Duel Disk, watching the numbers of Seika's Life gauge plummet further and further towards zero. _3000 … 2500 … 2000 …_

 _…_ _1500 …_

 _…_ _1000 …_

 _…_ _500 …_

 _…_ _100 …_

…

 _…_ _100 …_

…

 _…_ _100 …_

…

Masumi felt the bitter taste of horror fill her throat as she whirled upon Seika's field. _No! … How?!_

There was nothing there, nothing but the continuous roar of the flames from the virus' Field Spell; both _Infernoids_ had been blown to kingdom come. There were still some pieces of both _Adramelech_ and _Ba'al_ scattered here and there that had not yet faded into hard-light dust. _Rubyz_ itself was detaching a piece of what looked like _Adramelech's_ beak from the blade of its axe. So how—

 _Wait_ , she thought. Rubyz _can't attack more than once—not without another card effect._ So why were both _Infernoids_ destroyed, when her monster had only attacked one?!

A horrible thought suddenly occurred to her. Had one of them—?

"You almost had me," Seika rumbled. "If I didn't have another _Infernoid_ on my field, I'd be a goner. However … _Infernoid Belphegor's_ second effect—the one that lets me Release a monster I control to banish a card from my opponent's Graveyard—is not an exclusive one."

Banish a card?! Masumi felt a sudden sinking feeling in her heart as the pain of the fires from _Rubyz'_ attack suddenly registered.

 _Oh no …_

"Oh, yes," Seika smirked. "All of my _Infernoids_ share that effect—including the _Adramelech_ your monster attacked … and the _Ba'al_ I Released to activate it."

Through her disappointment and rage, Masumi understood. She'd been right about it not mattering whether her Rubyz had attacked _Adramelech_ or _Ba'al_ —just wrong about whether Seika would survive it or not. But it had—and the sliver of Life Points to which it now clung felt all the more damning to the Fusion Duelist.

She'd come so close—and yet remained so very far from victory.

"I—" she choked back angry tears—"end my turn." At this last, the fires that coursed over _Rubyz'_ armor now dimmed; its effect, along with that of _Particle Fusion_ , had concluded with the end of her turn, sending its ATK plummeting back to its original 2500.

"Before I kill you, I want you to take stock of where you are, Masumi," Seika hissed, drawing a card to begin its turn. "Look at what you've done—the reality that was always going to be the result of your fantasy of finally beating me. You've come closer than ever—and look at what your efforts have cost you. Look around."

Though she did not want to, Masumi felt her eyes, and then her neck, slowly swiveling round to her left. The sight of what lay next to her hit her like a punch to the gut: Hotene, Shen, and Fuyu lying on the cracked pavement in various states of wear and tear. All were breathing, but some were only just; Hotene was shaking where she lay—whether from crying or from pain, Masumi could not tell. Yaiba was half limping, half crawling to where Fuyu was sprawled on the road, poking him gently with the butt of his _shinai_ , coaxing him to _please get up_ —

"Burn their bodies into your mind, Masumi Kōtsu," Seika sneered at her. "Carry their faces with you for what little moments of time remain to you. Because I want you to know, before I end your life … that _you_ did this. _You_ killed these children—just as I will kill you … right here, right now."

Masumi was too wracked with emotion to even care about anything at this point. She didn't register Seika progressing through its Standby Phase yet again, Summoning an _Infernoid Token_ or putting yet more monsters into its Graveyard. All that she could think about was the disappointment she felt in herself for not being able to win this Duel, because of monsters she still didn't properly understand—or of horror for the children she'd spent the last month or more fighting alongside, becoming the best of friends that fire could ever forge.

But most of all, she felt the pit in her stomach widening further and further still, swallowing her whole—and she wondered if Seika might have been _right_ … that she really had led these people to their death.

"Watch now, Masumi," Seika hissed. "It's long past time I showed you what my _Infernoid_ Deck is capable of. First, I activate the Continuous Spell: _Void Dream of Purgatory_. While this card is on the field, every _Infernoid_ monster on my field becomes Level 1, though any battle damage they inflict will be halved!"

 _Level 1?!_ Already Masumi was beginning to realize the ramifications of this Spell. The Summoning restrictions of Seika's monsters no longer mattered anymore; it could Special Summon as many as it wanted until the loss of battle damage no longer mattered, either.

"Finally," growled Seika, "I banish the _Infernoid Token_ on my field, the _Infernoid Asmodai_ in my hand— _and_ the _Infernoid Adramelech_ in my Graveyard—to Special Summon _this_ from my Graveyard!"

Masumi was thunderstruck, remembering the effect of _Soul Absorption_. _He's banishing_ three _monsters this time?!_

That was all the time she had to think before a wall of pain smashed into her body once more. The Fusion Duelist felt herself convulsing where she stood as every hellish sensation possible, from red-hot barbed wire to insects gnawing at her insides with sharpened mandibles, wrapped around her body and sank into her flesh—the world was going dark around her; she couldn't hear any sound at all save her own screaming—

She fell backwards when it finally stopped— _had it been seconds? Hours?_ Masumi wondered—before the source of the darkness and silence finally registered: the fires of Seika's Field Spell were gone, as was the roaring sound that had filled her ears while they blazed. Blessed silence now took its place—but why was it so dark?

Instinctively, Masumi had glanced upward, wondering if perhaps this Duel had taken so long that the sun had set—but that was far from the case. For she was now seeing the source of the darkness that now covered the field, blanketing the destruction below in its shadow—for that was what it was—

 **"** ** _Descend!_** **"** roared Seika. **"** ** _Infernoid Nehemoth_** **!"**

Masumi could not speak—terror had choked her throat to where she couldn't even make a sound at the monster that filled the sky above her.

She could only describe it as a massive, mechanical dragon that could have wrapped its whole length around the Leo Duel School. Translucent blue wings blocked out every cloud in the sky, casting the shadows that surrounded the LID. Blood-red ripping edges that could have cleaved through entire buildings jutted outwards from its body, and at its back was a massive ring of metal that resembled nothing so much as some diabolical halo (Level 10 » **1** : _ATK 3000_ /DEF 3000).

"Oh, my God … " Masumi heard Yaiba mumble the words from some distance away, but did not acknowledge them. She was too horrified at seeing just what sort of monster Seika had been keeping from the LID all this time—even if, she knew, that it wouldn't be enough to defeat them this turn.

"When _Infernoid Nehemoth_ is Special Summoned," Seika bellowed, its Life gauge now sitting at 1100 thanks to _Soul Absorption_ , "I can activate its effect—and destroy _all other monsters_ on the field!"

Masumi gulped—though she knew the LID was still safe, due to Seika's own Continuous Spell, the notion of having to survive till their next turn with an empty field was an ill one indeed.

High above, meanwhile, _Nehemoth_ had opened its tiny jaws—tiny only by comparison to the rest of its gargantuan body; they were still wide enough to swallow a bus—and blasted a jet of blue fire straight down onto the field. It hit with the force of a bomb; _Gem-Knight Rubyz_ was reduced to a pile of warped and melted armor within seconds, before bursting into a cloud of hard-light shards soon after.

"And finally," hissed Seika, "I'll banish not one, not two … but all three _Infernoid Dekatrons_ —two from my Graveyard, and another from my hand—to Special Summon _this_ from my Graveyard as well!"

Masumi felt as though the collective bottom had dropped out of her insides. _Another triple-banish_ Infernoid _?!_

An unearthly noise rent the air in two just then—a horrid, howling shriek that felt more painful than any manipulation of Seika's Solid Vision. Perhaps it was meant as yet another manifestation of _Soul Absorption's_ effect—as evidenced by the virus' LP gauge climbing even higher to 2600.

Then Masumi saw a long streak of metal, slithering across the sky and gliding on four wings whose span could have shamed an airliner. The length of the enormous monster kept on coming and coming and _coming_ —hundreds of feet long, certainly, perhaps even _thousands_ —

 **"** **DESCEND!"** thundered the virus. **"** ** _INFERNOID LILITH_** **!"**

The monster called _Lilith_ roared again—the same high-pitched howl that had assaulted Masumi mere seconds ago—opening vast jaws that crackled with electricity, wide enough to swallow trees whole. Its serpentine body slithered behind Seika, like some gigantic, horned snake-demon either rearing its head to strike, or crush it in its massive coils (Level 9 » **1** : _ATK 2900_ /DEF 2900).

The sight of the monster spread ice water throughout Masumi's veins. For she had seen the point gauges of both monsters; combined with the knowledge of Seika's Void Dream, she had done enough mental math to realize the horrible truth that was staring her in the face.

 _We lost …_ she could only gape. _We just lost …_

" _Infernoid Lilith's_ effect," Seika sneered. "When it is Special Summoned, I can destroy every Spell and Trap on the field that isn't a _Purgatory_ card!"

But Masumi wasn't listening, even as what little field the LID had left disintegrated before them—her gaze had flown to Yaiba. The Synchro user, alone of the rest of the LID, was the only one doing more than simply stirring on the ground. He was cradling a groggy Fuyu, and limping closer to Shen; Hotene had managed to roll over on her back in the meantime, only to stare with growing terror at the twin monsters Seika had Summoned.

" _BATTLE PHASE!_ "

Masumi took one look at the blue flames dripping from their jaws—then ran for the tiny Duelist without a second thought, before Seika had even bellowed the words. She could not abandon her friends now—she could not leave them to die alone—

" _Infernoid Lilith_ —"

—she skidded to a halt in front of her, dropping to her knees—

"— _Infernoid Nehemoth_ —"

"Hotene!" Masumi called out, shaking the little girl by her shoulders. "Look at me—I want you to look straight at me—don't tear your eyes away from my face, whatever happens!"

The eyes of the Junior Fusion ace were swimming with tears, and Masumi felt their wetness as she clutched Hotene as tightly as she could, held her as tightly as possible to her breast as she was able—

"Attack their Life Points directly— _SLAY THEM ALL!_ "

There was no time—Masumi could see the light blooming above her; she heard the rush of hellfire coming, heard _Lilith_ and _Nehemoth_ roar gloatingly in victory as they prepared to obey Seika's command—she closed her eyes—

 _Pain_.

Nothing of what Masumi had felt up to this point—nothing that _Soul Absorption_ had ever subjected her to—none of it even remotely compared to the searing, piercing, sizzling, and _shrieking_ that pushed the capacity of her senses past the breaking point. Her vision was white; her throat was raw; she could take no more of it—she had to give in—

 _please let it end let it be done I want it to stop I just want to—_

And then—as if some higher being had heard her—it was over.

The squeal of five Duel Disks—of five screens bearing a single LP gauge, now wholly depleted to zero—barely even registered in her ears. She hardly felt herself toppling to the side of Hotene, whose eyes were perfectly round, staring unblinking into the now-empty sky—

Nor did she feel something seize her by the scruff of her shirt, hauling her bodily into the air, or hear the sounds of four other children who were being treated likewise—

"You survived their attack. Q will immortalize your names for that." Seika's voice sounded miles away, even as its blue eyes looked straight at Masumi. The Fusion user stared back without seeing anything. "But when I am finished with your city … your names will be all that's left of you—and your people."

The Solid Vision that gripped Masumi _clenched_ … her throat was feeling tighter and tighter …

"Goodbye, Masumi Kōtsu." A pause. "Goodbye, LID."

There was nothing she could do … nothing she could even say …

 _flash_

"What?!"

The light had only slightly managed to brighten Masumi's failing vision; enough of her hearing remained that she thought it might have been a bolt of lightning.

Then the tightness around her neck had left her; the Fusion Duelist felt herself falling to the ground, landing on her back with a hard enough _bump_ to feel it even through the numbness of her skin—

"What is this?!" Seika was growling. More _flashes_ of lightning had appeared, causing stars to dance in Masumi's eyes. Snaps and sparks popped in her ears, growing louder and louder, bit by bit—

With the greatest effort it had cost her—or ever would again—Masumi cracked open a heavy eyelid by a millimeter.

The black cloak of Seika was thrashing about wildly; its Duel Disk was throwing off sparks after sparks, and its eyes were flashing with a combination of surprise and rage. The edges were _fuzzing_ and _fritzing_ every so often, it was as though she was looking at the virus through a rapidly closing screen door—

"No—what's going on?!" it bellowed. "Why _now? Why—?!_ "

An explosion of lightning, bigger than any yet seen by far, ripped through the road, blinding Masumi and sending her sprawling. Seika was nowhere to be seen; it had disappeared in the chaos, for reasons the Fusion user could not fathom. Had it turned invisible again? If so, then why—?

She had no more time to think on it; the world was slipping into silence. Her body had gone completely leaden; her vision was growing darker by the moment. Masumi did not bother to put up a fight. She let the silent blackness and merciful numbness overtake her, relaxing her body to accept the inevitable, and she knew nothing more …

* * *

 **A/N: WELP OKAY this got away from me. Again. At least I finished the big Duel—well, one of them.**

 **The bits of code you've been seeing so far—or more to the point, the ones that haven't been butchered by how this site is formatted—are in homage to** ** _Jurassic Park_** **(or completely rip it off, depending on how you see it). Either way, it is and still remains one of my favorite books to read (and films to watch) in the history of ever.**

 **(Also, Seika's taunt to Himika was much more complex than I eventually decided on; this site somehow butchered that, too. _Argh_.)**

 **Anyway, I'm going to put** ** _(æ)lohim_** **on the back burner for a bit so I can allow my fingers to relax and turn my concentration elsewhere. Finding apartments, keeping up with work schedules—my boring adult life, basically.** **The next chapter ought to be shorter as a result, but by no means will it be a breather; there's a lot of stuff I'd like to address in it—so you won't want to miss a thing.**

 **Stay tuned till then, and thanks for reading! – K**


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